The Study of Groundwater Contamination in the Areas
of Subsurface Radioactive Waste Storing

V. G. Rumynin and V. A. Mironenko

Institute of Environmental Geoscience, St. Petersburg Branch,
Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia

Received April 29, 1999

Abstract—At present, soil and groundwater contamination by radionuclides is considered to be the most haz-
ardous effect on the natural environment related to the systems of human life support. Together with the con-
taminated soils within the Chernobyl trail, the areas of radioactive waste (RW) storage and disposal are the
sources of actual or potential groundwater contamination. The correct description of migration processes is of
extreme importance during contamination prediction and assessment of the effectiveness of natural rehabilita-
tion of aquifers subject to radionuclide contamination. This paper considers the experimental and model studies
of the fields of groundwater radioactive contamination developing in similar areas: in the zone of influence of
Lake Karachai, which is the reservoir of liquid RW at the production association Mayak (Chelyabinsk region),
and in the region of the Leningrad special plant Radon (Leningrad region).