Uranium in water of the Mulde River

authored by

Stefan Bister, Florian Koenn, Maruta Bunka, Jonny Birkhan, Torben Lüllau, Beate Riebe, Rolf Michel

Abstract

The Mulde River is a left side tributary of the Elbe River and mainly situated in Saxony. The river system consists of the Freiberger Mulde River and the Zwickauer Mulde River, which merge to form the Vereinigte Mulde River. The Zwickauer Mulde River drains the former uranium mining and milling areas in Saxony. This research project was established to quantify the long-term effect of the former uranium mining and milling activities by investigating the content of uranium of the water of the Mulde River. The activity concentration of uranium in samples from the Zwickauer Mulde River is still high compared with the natural background. The values measured in the water of the Vereinigte Mulde River are also elevated, but to a lesser extent due to the dilution effect caused by the merging with the uncontaminated Freiberger Mulde River. Furthermore, the level of contamination of the river water decreased by at least a factor of three as compared to the early 1990s.

Organisation(s)

Centre for Radiation Protection and Radioecology

External Organisation(s)

FH Aachen University of Applied Sciences

Type

Article

Journal

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry

Volume

286

Pages

367-372

No. of pages

6

ISSN

0236-5731

Publication date

11.2010

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Analytical Chemistry, Nuclear Energy and Engineering, Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging, Pollution, Spectroscopy, Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-010-0767-2 (Access: Closed)