A predictive assessment of the uranium ore tailings impact on surface water contamination: Case study of the city of Kamianske, Ukraine

In this study, we present an assessment of the uranium ore tailings impact on groundwater and surface water contamination. The radioactive materials were deposited in the tailings storage facility "Dniprovske" (the city of Kamianske, Ukraine) from 1954 to 1968; now it contains about 5.85·10⁶ m³ of hazardous waste on the area of about 76 ha in the floodplain of the Dnipro river. The lack of a proper waterproof screen below deposited tailings and in the earthen dam led to permanent watering of radioactive materials, their leaching and migration in groundwater into the nearest small Konoplianka river. We used the reports on previous site-specific studies conducted in 1999-2016, monitoring results, and the field studies conducted in 2022 with the authors' team participation. The calculations performed with the advection-dispersion model to simulate transport of radionuclides ²³⁸U, ²³⁰Th, ²²⁶Ra and ²¹⁰Pb through the embankment to the Konoplianka river and dilution relations were compared to the monitoring data of the surface water quality. Among four radionuclides, uranium poses the greatest risks today; the subsurface runoff increases its concentration in the Konoplianka river water by several times over the background value. It is estimated that due to much more intensive sorption in the shallow aquifer, the contribution of ²²⁶Ra and ²¹⁰Pb to the increase in radioactivity of Konoplianka river water is insignificant compared to uranium, whereas the migration front of ²³⁰Th has probably not yet reached the riverbank. In the next 50 years the radionuclide fluxes will increase by 1.3-3.7 times for different isotopes, with the uranium subsurface runoff growing at a slower rate than nowadays. These results are of high significance for improving hydrological, hydrogeological, and geotechnical monitoring on this hazardous facility to maintain its radiation safety.