Elevated Alpha Radiation Level in Water of River Subarnarekha and Tube Well at In-and-Off Zone of Jaduguda Mine,India

Abstract

The Subarnarekha river is a major river rising from the Chota Nagpur plateau of Jharkhand State, India. After passing through Jharkhand state, the river enters the Indian state of West Bengal, Orissa and finally falls into the Bay of Bengal. Jaduguda mine which is the foundation on which the Indian nuclear fuel chain rests is situated at Jharkhand state near the R. Subarnarekha course. In order to observe the contamination effect of Jaduguda mine on the river, we have collected river water samples from nine different locations along the path of the river and measured alpha activity in those samples. High level of alpha radioactivity is found in all the samples even at far sites from mine region and it is interestingly seen that alpha activity decreases as we go near-to-far locations from the mine. Tube-well samples were also collected from the same locations and in that case also similar trend was seen.