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Small radioactive leak discovered at research reactor outside Riga

24 December 2014 01:25 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A small leak from a radioactive water tank has been discovered at a Soviet-era research reactor just outside Riga, local media reported on Tuesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Indrikis Muiznieks, a researcher from the University of Latvia, told the Baltic News Service that tritium levels were slightly increased in the immediate vicinity of the leak at the Salaspils Research Reactor.

At the end of October, the Latvian government approved 120,000 euro (about 146,400 U.S. dollars) for repairs of the reactor's radioactive water tanks, the condition of which had not been examined since the 1960s. A recent inspection of the tanks revealed that a small amount of radioactive water had leaked from one of the tanks.

Muiznieks said that the water had seeped through joints of one of the stainless steel tanks. The tank had been placed in a reinforced concrete vessel and a small amount of water had ended up in the environment, increasing the level of tritium in the immediate area to 10 Bq/l. The acceptable level is 100 Bq/l, Muiznieks explained.

"Thank God and the specialists' prudence, the works were started timely and the pollution limits have not been exceeded," the University of Latvia pro-rector said.

In his words, the inspection and repairs of the radioactive water tanks started at the last moment, because more delays could have led to a much more serious leak. Specialists have so far completed the inspection of one of the reactor's two radioactive water tanks, and the radioactive water has been pumped from the tank. The ongoing work is to thoroughly check and repair both tanks.

The accident happened as recently as last week, representatives of the Slaspils regional authority cited information provided by the reactor's administration as saying.

In line with the rules, the Radiation Safety Centre of the State Environment Service, which works under the Latvian Environmental Protection and Regional Development Ministry, investigated the leak but found no safety threats, the regional authority said.

Deionized water containing radioactive isotope tritium and caesium 137 is used to protect the active zone of the Salaspils Research Reactor against radiation. The water is kept in tanks in the reactor's territory. The reactor is managed by the University of Latvia which is planning to create a cyclotron centre in the reactor's territory, but the project has been postponed until the reactor is dismantled.

In 2008, spent nuclear fuel from the Salaspils Research Reactor was transported to Russia. When this process was completed, there were plans to dismantle the reactor by 2013, but this plan was delayed by the economic crisis, and the reactor's dismantling was put off for two years.