Radiation impact assessment on wildlife from an uranium mine area

Uranium mining and milling activities are one of the major causes of radioactive contamination of the environment. Radionuclides, especially uranium decay-chain products, are released from plant wastes into the soil and water and consequently into vegetation where they may accumulate. Transfer of radionuclides thus represents a radiological risk to humans and non-human organisms due to accumulation of radionuclides in target tissues and the consequent ionising radiation. The uranium mine at Žirovski vrh in Slovenia, which operated from 1985 to 1990, processed about 600,000 t of U-ore. Operational wastes were deposited at the Boršt and Jazbec sites. According to several studies, an environmental radiological risk to biota could be observed at sites exposed to radioactive contamination. A modelling approach can be used to estimate the risk in such areas. The ERICA tool is one of the more widely used models, developed to assess the environmental risk from ionising radiation to wildlife. In the present study, the ERICA Tool was applied for the assessment of the radiation impact on wildlife in the Žirovski vrh influential area. ERICA reference organisms, native plants and aquatic organisms were included in the assessment to screen the risk to different organisms. Total dose rate to organisms were up to 3.49, 33.0 and 2.58 μGy h−1 for Juncus effusus, lichens and Austropotamobius torrentium, respectively. Dose rates to other organisms are also presented and discussed.