330 



CRS-3 



3. Contamination of the Territory with Radionuclides, Which is Caused by Technology 



3.1. Mining of Radioactive Minerals 



At the end of the 1940s and the beginning of the 1950s, prospecting for radioactive 

 elements and recovery operations were carried out in Southern Yakutia (Vasil'yevka) for 

 monazite from placers and in the Momskiy Rayon (Sugunskiy Prospecting Region of 

 Dal'stroya) for uranium ores. 



Enterprises were liquidated: the first enterprise for lack of use, the second enterprise 

 because of the leanness of the ores. Nevertheless, at these sites, the bowels of the earth were 

 actively interfered with: at Vasil'yevka today, there are spoil banks of radioactive material 

 concentrated with an ore washer. The Sugunskiy Prospecting Region was examined in 1991, 

 since the possibility for the spoil banks from the mining operations to drift doym to the 

 foothills at the Ulakhan-Chistay Plateau provoked alarm among the public. 



3.2. Prospecting for Uranium 



As a result of carrying on prospecting in Southern Yakutia for 25 years, we were 

 confronted vsdth the problem of the radioactive (ore) spoil banks which accompany heavy 

 mining operations. The organization which had conducted these operations was liquidated, 

 and its settlements were handed over to other departments. If issues regarding the elimination 

 of radioactive contamination in the settlements are going to be resolved technically and 

 practically at the present time, then the problem of the spoil banks requires a serious 

 approach. The All-Union Scientific Research and Planning Institute for Industrial 

 Technologies under Minatomenergoprom [Ministry of the Nuclear Power Industry] claims to 

 be a real expert and designer, yet it remains to determine who is the customer. 



3.3. Mining of Gold and Tin 



During the extraction of gold and tin from placer deposits, heavy minerals, including 

 radioactive minerals, are recovered and concentrated. In specific cases, tin concentrate reaches 

 radioactivity of as much as 2,000-3,000 microroentgens/hour (container), and during the 

 extraction of gold writhout amalgamation - the non-magnetic fraction of heavy concentrate has 

 7,000-10,000 microroentgens/hour (half-drum). 



At Kular, since mining first began, the radioactive rare-earth mineral kularite 

 [= monazite] has been running off into spoil banks. 



3.4. Underground Peaceful Nuclear Ebcplosions 



From 1974 through 1987 on the territory of the Republic, 12 nuclear explosions were 

 conducted: nine in the Mirninskiy Rayon, and one each in the Bulunskiy Rayon, 

 Verkhnevilyuyskiy Rayon and Kobyayskiy Rayon. Two of these were accompanied by releases 

 of radionuclides: a shallow, sub-surface blast for the purpose of building an embankment for 

 a tailings storage pit at 2-5 km from the Udachnyy Settlement and an accidental detonation 

 during a deep seismjc sounding at 39 km fi-om the Aykhal Settlement. In both cases, 

 recultivation work is necessary, and in the latter case, there is a need to follow the trace of the 

 radioactive cloud. 



