The Chernobyl exclusion zone contains several locations that deserve special attention, and the village of Buryakovka is one of them, since this is where the radioactive equipment repository is located. The storage facility ceased operating in 1996, when its capacity limit was reached, and a decision was made to reconstruct the RWDF, which will accommodate an additional 120 thousand square meters of waste.
Turning into a sleeping monster
The first mention of this village dates back to the 19th century. In Soviet times, Buryakovka was a small village in the Ivankovsky district of the Kiev region, located about 50 kilometers from Chernobyl itself. After the Chernobyl accident, the villagers were urgently relocated to the nearby Makarovsky district.
After the main consequences of the accident were eliminated, a repository for radiation-contaminated equipment was built 4 kilometers south of Buryakovka. The Leningrad Institute VNIPIET established the RWDF (radioactive waste disposal facility) known as Buryakovka. The design was based on drawings of typical near-surface repositories for group I radioactive waste (specifically, SPORO-85). The site was commissioned in February 1987. The storage facility has impressive dimensions — 1200 × 700 m — and contains 30 trenches, each covering an area of 20-25 thousand square meters.
What is hidden behind RWDF “Buryakovka”?
All contaminated equipment is buried under a layer of soil whose thickness is calculated based on the object’s level of contamination. The maximum permissible gamma radiation on the surface of the repository is 30 microns per hour. This figure takes into account the need to contain radionuclides within the storage facility for the entire decay period, which is no less than 300 years.
By the way, Buryakovka itself was chosen as a burial ground for a reason. Requirements for the location of an RWDF are quite strict, and only when they are observed will the storage facility avoid harming the environment.
Here are some points:
• Geological and hydrogeological conditions suitable for containing radioactive particles;
• Distance from bodies of water;
• Independence from geological processes within the boundaries of the burial ground;
• Distance from settlements and industrial zones.
Not a single ton of radioactive structures, soil, reinforced concrete, or ordinary scrap metal has found refuge in “Buryakovka”. The cemetery
Photos from the source 1, source 2.