DOI: 10.5176/2251-3353_GEOS13.20
Authors: Marianna Kulkova, Eugeny Nesterov and Sergey Lebedev
Abstract: Investigations of radiocarbon (14C) activity in the environment of the Gulf of Finland basin were conducted for the first time. The Leningrad (Sosnovy Bor) Nuclear Power Plant (NNP) with RBMK-1500 reactor and nuclear waste repositories located in this region are potential sources of radioactive pollution. The commercial automatic system for sample preparation Sample Oxidizer 307 and low background scintillation counting Quantulus 1220 were used to determine 14C activity in the water and annual vegetation of this region. Geographic information system (GIS) technologies were applied for mapping the geochemical data. A study of 14C variation in annual vegetation in the area of St. Petersburg city detected 14C activity exceeding the level of modern background in industrial zones. Another source of 14C pollution in some areas of St. Petersburg could be a wind drift from the Nuclear Power Plant. Minimum 14C content was detected in the annual vegetation growing far from the industrial zones in parks and gardens near places of transport activity, namely the “Suess effect”. The 14C variations in water from the Ladoga Lake basin point to sources of radioactivity in this area and their impact on the environment.
Keywords: the Gulf of Finland, radiocarbon (14C) activity, 14C pollution of grassland and water, Sample Oxidizer 307, Quantulus 1220, Geographic information system (GIS) technologies
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