The territory of the Chernobyl exclusion zone has locations that deserve special attention. The village of Buryakovka is one of those, because this is where the repository of radioactive equipment is located. The storage ceased to function in 1996, when the capacity limit would have been exhausted, and a decision was made to reconstruct the RWDF. This will additionally accommodate about 120 thousand square meters waste.
Turning into a sleeping monster
The first mention of this village was recorded in the XIX century. In Soviet times, Buryakovka was a small village in the Ivankovsky district of the Kiev region. It was located in about 50 kilometers from Chernobyl itself, and after the Chernobyl accident the villagers were urgently relocated to Makarovsky district, located nearby.
After the main consequences of the accident were eliminated, a repository for contaminated by radiation equipment was laid 4 kilometers south of Buryakovka. The Leningrad Institute VNIPIET established RWDF (radioactive waste disposal facility) Buryakovka. As a basis for the development, drawings of typical projects of near surface repositories for radioactive waste of group I (respectively SPORO-85) were used. The cemetery was commissioned in February 1987. The storage has impressive dimensions: 1200 × 700 m., and contains 30 trenches with an area of 20-25 thousand square meters each.
What is hidden behind RWDF “Buryakovka”?
All contaminated equipment is stored under the ground, the thickness of which is calculated based on the level of contamination of the object. The maximum allowable power of gamma radiation on the surface of the repository is 30 microns / hour. When calculating this figure, the possibility of preserving radionuclides in the storage facility itself for the entire decay period, which is no less than 300 years, is taken into account.
By the way, Buryakovka herself was chosen as a burial ground for a reason. Requirements for the location of RWDF are quite strict, and only if they are observed, the storage facility will not harm the environment.
Here are some points:
• Geological and hydrogeological possibilities of holding radioactive particles;
• Remoteness from water bodies;
• Independence from geological processes within the boundaries of the burial ground;
• Remoteness from settlements and industrial zones.
Not a single ton of radioactive structures, soil, reinforced concrete and ordinary scrap metal found its refuge in “Buryakovka”. The cemetery
Photos from the source 1, source 2.