Uranium contents in drinking water limescale samples in the junction zone of the East European Platform and Southern Ural (Republic of Bashkortostan)
Description
An assessment of uranium contents in drinking water limescale has been conducted in the territory of Republic of Bashkortostan – the region of the European part of Russia with a total area of 143600 km2, located at the junction of two major geological structures: Western part of the territory located within the Eastern European platform, while the Eastern part is confined to the Ural Mountains. A total of 515 samples of carbonate sediments (limescale) from 262 settlements of the RB were collected. The samples were taken in accordance with the recommendations [Method of determination ..., 2007] and based on the experience of previous studies. Sampling was carried out from various utensils (enameled and electric kettles, pots, boilers) used for boiling water, both from centralized and individual (wells, streams) sources of water supply. The spread of U concentration values in limescale samples ranged from 0.01 to 61.0 µg/g. Analysis of U content was carried out by instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) using IRT-T TPU research nuclear reactor (nuclear geochemical laboratory of the international innovative scientific and educational centre "Uranium Geology", accreditation certificate № RA.RU.21АБ27 from 08.04.2015, analytics A.F. Sudyko, L.F. Bogutskaya). This method is effective for determination of radioactive elements [Witkowska et al., 2005; Frontasyeva, 2011; Sudyko, 2016].