Radionuclide Transfer in the Zirconium Oxychloride Production Process and the Radiation Effect in a Typical Chinese Enterprise

The radiation impact on the environment from naturally-occurring radioactive materials in zircon sand is an important issue for zirconium product manufacturing enterprises. In this paper, a typical oxychloride production enterprise has been taken as an example to study the radiation effect and environmental pollution during the whole production process. The transfer and enrichment of radionuclides in zircon sand was studied by analyzing their concentrations in samples, such as products and wastes, which were sampled from every studied workshop, so that the dose rate in the environment and typical facility surfaces of each workshop could be measured. The study results show that the transfer and enrichment of radionuclides occur mainly in workshops of acidification, dissolution, concentration and crystallization. Silicon slag adsorbed some radionuclides, but most of the radionuclides in raw materials are transferred and enriched in waste acid by the concentration and crystallization process. Sludge and wastewater still contain a large quantity of radionuclides after treatment by wastewater treatment plants. This results in a significant increase in U-238 and Th-232 concentrations in river water near the main outlet. The average effective dose of all employees in the studied enterprises was 0.94 mSv, and workers from the wastewater treatment plants had the largest annual effective dose at 11 mSv.