Radioecological surveillance around an old mining and milling site during environmental remediation works

摘要

The main site of historic uranium mining and milling in Portugal, near the town of Canas deSenhorim, contains around 2.5 million tones of solid waste containing radioactivity in various mill tailings andspoil heaps. Approval of an environmental remediation plan for this area was followed by the start ofengineering works, including the transportation of milling waste to the main milling pile and re shaping andcontouring the waste heap to put a cap layer. These works were mostly performed in 2006 and 2007. During partof this period monitoring of radioactivity, including radon, was performed in the surface air, surface waters fromthe area, including the monitoring of the small river that receives drainage from the mill tailings area, andagriculture products. This paper presents the results of measurements of the main alpha emitting radionuclides ofuranium series and compares them with previous data from the region. Implications for the radiologicalprotection of the population are discussed.