Vertical transport velocity of fine particles of aluminum smelter emissions.

In this study, the average values of vertical velocity of particles emitted from an aluminum smelter in the surface layer of the atmosphere were estimated using a semi-empirical method. The method is based on regression analysis of the horizontal profile of pollutants measured along the selected direction using moss bioindicators. The selection of epiphytic mosses Sanionia uncinata was carried out in 2013 in the zone of influence of a metallurgical industry enterprise in the city of Kandalaksha, Murmansk region. The concentrations of As, Si, Ni, Zn, Ti, Cd, Na, Pb, Co, K, Ba, Ca, Mg, Mn, Sr, Fe, Al, V, Cr, Cu were determined using atomic emission spectrometry. The conducted assessments showed that the average particle velocity toward the Earth's surface, when considering large spatial and temporal scales, is tens of times higher than gravitational settling velocities.

Influence of rock type and geophysical properties on radon flux density.

The most significant source of human exposure to ionizing radiation is the radioactive gas radon (basically 222Rn) and its daughter decay products, creating more than half of the effective dose from all natural sources. Radon enters buildings mainly from dense rocks, which are below building foundations at depths of 1 m and more. In this paper long-term measurements of radon flux density are analyzed, with radon exhalation from the surface of the most common rocks-loams, sandy loams, clays, clay shales, several types of sandy-gravel-pebble deposits, clay and rocky limestone. The influence of geophysical properties of rocks on radon flux density due to exhalation from surfaces of those rocks was studied. Based on the results obtained, a method of local assessment of the hazard from radon and its progeny in buildings is proposed, which is based on the geophysical properties of rocks below the foundations of those buildings.

The plant for obtaining an aqueous radon solution.

Developing indicator methods to determine the main characteristics of cores extracted from oil-bearing strata presupposes simple, radiation-safe installations of an aqueous radon solution. This study describes such an installation, comprising crushed uranium ores weighing ~45 kg. Herein, we investigated the radon concentration (RC) of water as a function of pumping rate and duration to determine the optimal pumping conditions necessary for achieving a maximum RC in water of ~3 kBq/L.

[Role of the number of stories in the radiation-sanitary assessment of residential buildings]. / Rol' faktora étazhnosti pri radiatsionno-gigienicheskoi otsenke zhilykh zdanii.

Upon long-term exposure, the radioactive gas radon-222 and its decay products in increased doses adversely affect human health. Since the human being spends about 65% of his time in the buildings, it is necessary to evaluate air radiation purity in the rooms, which can be obtained by making a sanitary radiological survey of residential buildings. The scope of the rooms in many-storeyed buildings to be examined can be considerably reduced if the regularities in radon distribution are known. This paper deals with searches for regularities in the distribution of radon levels by the floors of many-storeyed buildings in Tomsk. The room air concentrations of radon were measured for 18 residential buildings with tract detectors upon 1-3--month exposure. The findings showed a different pattern in the distribution of radon levels by the floors in relation to the structural features of a building and to the type of a building material. The wooden and slag-concrete buildings show a 2-3--fold increase in radon levels on the lower floors as compared to the upper ones. A statistical analysis of measurements in the bearing-wall and brick buildings revealed no association of the concentration of radon with the level of a floor, the distribution is near-uniform with 15-30% standard deviation, which is within the limits of measurement error.