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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Assessment of the fate of radioactive contaminants in the Ob River, Siberia, Russia. Final report, 1 June 1995--31 May 1999

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:678980
This project has studied the distribution of particle reactive natural and artificial radionuclides in sediment cores of the Ob River, Siberia in order to determine the release and transport of nuclides from nuclear weapons related activities of the former Soviet Union. The Ob River drainage basin houses the bulk of the former Soviet Union`s weapons production facilities (Mayak and Tomsk-7) as well as the major test site of Semipalatinsk. In addition, some 2 billion curies of nuclear waste from weapons production are stored or have been released to the environment in this area. The potential for catastrophic future releases from poorly maintained tanks and open storage ponds is real. This project has sought to develop a history of transport and deposition of nuclides released from these plants, and to use these data as a basis for estimating delivery to the Arctic Ocean and to predict rates of transport in the event of future releases.
Research Organization:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MA (United States)
OSTI ID:
678980
Report Number(s):
AD-A--365109/XAB; CNN: Contract N00014-95-1-1208
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English