Speaker
Description
The work presents the challenges that are being faced during the environmental management project initiation regarding the closed underground uranium mine Gabrovnica in eastern Serbia. The radiological findings show high concentrations of Ra-226 in soil, sediments and mine water collected in the pool near the cluttered grove, whereas the dose rate in some areas goes up to 10µSv/h. Besides the understanding related to the known contamination, questions arise regarding possible unknown contamination since not all of the environmental media could have been characterized. The missing data include details about geology, hydro-geology, climate data and underground structures. Together with the physical hazards on site, chemical contamination is a complex issue since the facilities on-site, after the mining operations ended, were also used for storage and treatment of chemicals and solvents. One of the key issues is the stakeholder engagement and expectations. The local community expresses the interest to flood the area to create a recreational center with a small lake. The operator is not able to provide enough funding and available qualified people, thus labeling the project of the low priority. Although the new legislation recognizes the term remediation per se, the existing exposure situation management strategy is missing on the national level. Moreover, the regulatory body has a different perspective on the matter, asking for the activities to be performed under the decommissioning license. However, the results of the investigation brought more understanding of the site, yet more questions and revealed data gaps, making the output of the work to become the input for the next steps and decision making.
