Infrastructure Objects of the Nuclear Fleet as Sources of Radioactive Contamination of the Barents Sea: Waste Repository in Guba Andreeva

Abstract

The impact of temporary storage sites for radioactive wastes in Guba Andreeva on the environmental conditions in the coastal zone of the Barents Sea after 50 years of operation is evaluated on the basis of general chronological reconstruction of the dynamics of radioactive contamination of the marine environment. The bottom deposits along the seacoast at different distances from the repository were investigated. It was found that the region of constant impact of the repository on the conditions in the marine environment is localized near the perimeter of the sanitary-protective zone. Growth of the specific activity of ¹³⁷Cs, ⁹⁰Sr, ²³⁸Pu, ^239,240Pu is recorded in sediments layers up to the level 16–20 cm. The impact of the emission of radionuclides from the repository site is not perceptible in the seacoast zone (Motovskii Zaliv). The age of the sedimentary layers was determined: it shows that the significant concentration of ¹³⁷Cs in the deposits in Motovskii Zaliv corresponds to the mid-1960s and 1986 and is associated with atmospheric fallout of radionuclides as a result of the nuclear weapons tests and the accident at the Chernobyl NPP.