Site-specific concentration of uranium in urine of workers of the hydrometallurgical plant of Stepnogorsk mining and che
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ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Site‑specific concentration of uranium in urine of workers of the hydrometallurgical plant of Stepnogorsk mining and chemical combine Moldir Aumalikova1,2 · Meirat Bakhtin2 · Polat Кazymbet2 · Кassym Zhumadilov1 · Nursulu Altaeva3 · Danara Ibrayeva1,2 · Elena Shishkina4,5 Received: 7 November 2019 / Accepted: 19 September 2020 / Published online: 24 September 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Radiation monitoring is an important radiation safety measure implemented at the hydrometallurgical plant of the Stepnogorsk mining and chemical combine (HMP SMCC, Republic of Kazakhstan). Follow-up of the workers and their regular medical examinations has laid the basis to create a cohort with the potential to be used in radiation epidemiology. The aim of current pilot study was to analyze the dose forming factors for workers of HMP SMCC. For this, bioassays samples collected from 54 workers employed at eight HMP workshops were measured using the "Agilent 7800 ICP-MS" mass spectrometer. Three years later, measurements were repeated for four workers with the highest concentrations of uranium in urine. The results of site-specific measurements of dose rates, long-lived alpha-particle activity concentrations and equivalent equilibrium volume activity of radon were derived from the archive of the HMP SMCC Service of Radiation and Toxic Safety and analyzed to fully evaluate the radiation situation at those workplaces. Maximum urine uranium concentrations were measured for workers at the extraction workshop and mechanical repair shop (up to 26.7 µg/L and 14.6 µg/L, respectively). Urinary uranium from workers employed at other sites was mainly (for about 72% of the samples) in the range of values that may occur in natural conditions ( 0.4 µg/L) could at least be identified of being higher than the natural environmental uranium level. All results of less than 0.4 µg/L were measured for workers at the wastewater treatment site and the site for ore preparation. Both
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Radiation and Environmental Biophysics (2020) 59:703–710
Table 3 Workshop-specific distributions of uranium concentrations in urine of personnel No. Workshop
Mean (error of mean), µg/L
Min–max, µg/L CV, %
1
0.83 (0.54)
0.16–1.90
114
3.5 (1.9)
0.59–14.60
145
0.79 (0.70) 0.15 (0.70)
0.04–3.60 0.07–0.28
199 80
0.27 (0.90) 0.65(0.31)
0.10–0.40 0.11–1.50
60 95
0.52 (0.18)
0.14–1.80
107
0.17–26.70b
143
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Polymetal manufacture Mechanical repair shop Tail facilities site Wastewater operation sitea Ore preparationa Breakage and heap leaching Instrumentation preparation and automation Extraction workshop
6.3 (2.1)
CV coefficient of variation a
Background levels of uranium concentration in urine
b
Values exceeding 15 µg/L are most likely associated with an accidental intake
wastewater and ore treatments deal with liquid substances only limiting the chance of inhalation of uranium. Maximum uranium concentrations were measured in the urine of personnel at the extraction
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