Kransnoufimsk Map

The Problem

Krasnoufimsk is located in Sverdlovsk Oblast (Yekaterinburg) in the Central Urals. 82,000 tons of radioactive monazite concentrate have been stored here since the sixties. Exposure to monazite is linked to increased risk of cancer and is most dangerous when inhaled.

The main goal of the project was to raise awareness about the problem and lobby the government for a safe removal of the monazites pollution in the Krasnoufimsk District.

The monazite was initially obtained because it contains thorium, which can be used to make nuclear weapons. Interest in monazite raw material declined once the uranium-plutonium nuclear fuel cycle began to be adopted.

The monazite is packed in three-layered paper bags of 50 kg, which are stored in wooden boxes. Those are stocked in 23 warehouses (19 made of wooden and 4 made of metal), which were built in the early forties by the Central Administrative Board of Material Reserves (GUMR) of the USSR and initially used for the storage of strategic food stocks. The storage site’s total area is approximately 20 hectares.

Content of thorium in monazite is approx. 5% and content of uranium approx. 0.2%. Thus approximately 4000t tons of thorium (thorium-232) and 160t of uranium (uranium-238) are stored at the area, which represent total radioactive activity of 2.886 ·1014 Bq (7800 Ci).

Health Impact:

There is a very high incidence of cancer in the Krasnoufimsk district. As of late 2004 there were 990 cases of cancer among district residents (more than double that of other districts). More than half the children suffer from developmental problems, and illnesses of the musculoskeletal system, thyroid gland, and reproductive systems are also common.

The Clean Up:

In March 2004, the Sverdlovsk Oblast government approved a measure that provided 63 million rubles for remediation work over the years 2004-2007. In 2005, construction of closed metal hangars on the most critical warehouse 3 and 7 have been conducted followed by constructions on the warehouses 11, 15, 18, and 19 in 2006. The hangars will protect the shabby old wooden warehouse from dangers such as fire, natural influences, and other potential failures. The wooden fence that surrounded the area was replaced by a new one constructed of ferroconcrete panels. As of 2005, 1 out of 2.4 kilometers of fence has been replaced.

A new target program for the years 2007- 2009, containing some 280 million rubles, has been providing further support to construct metal hangars at the remaining 13 warehouses (2009: 4; 2008: 4; 2009: 5) and this work has been done.

The radiation’s effects on the water, soil, and people will continue to be monitored.

It will not be possible to process the monazite safely in the next ten years, so the next best possible decision is to guarantee safe, intermediate term storage of the monazite. But the long-term solution should be repackaging the monazite in special containers and transporting it to the specialized storage maintained by the Ministry for Nuclear Energy.

Outcome and Follow-up:

The Ural Ecological Union established the Expert Council to deal with the monazite pollution. It included the most prominent experts on human health, radiation safety and the regional environment. The council concluded that the current storage of the monazites concentrate does not adhere to the safety standards for storing open radioactive substances, but the offered alternatives of processing monazite will create more socio-ecological problems than there are at present.

Following the council’s recommendation, the warehouse premises were reinforced with more reliable buildings to minimize the potential of natural accidents or terrorist acts.

Krasnoufimsk2

In order to trace the high level of cancer and immune illnesses, a study was implemented on order of Ministry for Environment of Sverdlovsk Region. The research was conducted on the local population living 8 km from Krasnoufimsk, but because there were no independent researchers on the team, the results were biased.