Radium isotopes in river sediments of Czech Republic

AbstractIn the Czech Republic, river bottom sediments have been systematically monitored since 1999. In the paper, their radioactive contamination due to uranium mining and milling is assessed. The sediments samples were analyzed by gamma spectrometry. Especially the radium-226 and radium-228 activities were further evaluated.The highest values of the radium-226 activities were found at river profiles where the uranium industry impact was obvious. It turned out that the radium-226 and radium-228 activities ratio is more convenient to assess the level of radium-226 contamination than only the radium-226 activity itself. Based on this hypothesis, the sediment classification scheme for uranium industry contamination was suggested. The natural background activities of radium-226 and radium-228 in the Czech Republic were also evaluated. The case of radium-226 contamination due to the uranium industry was studied in details at the Ploučnice River