METHOD TO DETECT CONTAMINATION OF SNOW COVER WITH RADIOACTIVE COMPONENTS Russian patent published in 2012 - IPC G01T1/169 

FIELD: ecology.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to environment monitoring to detect areas of ice cover contamination with radioactive components. The invention substance consists in the fact that snow samples are taken, melted, snowmelt water is filtered, solid residue is dried, sifted down to the fraction of less than 1 mm, specimens are made from a sifted part of each sample in the form of pressed briquettes, and a detector of lavsan film is stuck on each of them, a packet of briquettes is prepared, additionally laying a lavsan film between them, the packet is wrapped with aluminium foil. Then the packet is placed into a reactor channel and radiated with thermal neutrons for not more than 5.5 hours. The radiated pack is removed from the reactor channel, and after the induced radioactivity drops to the safe level, detectors are removed and exposed to chemical etching. Then tracks of chaotic and radial-beam nature of distribution from fragments of fissionable radionuclides are detected under a microscope in each detector, density of track distribution is identified per unit of area, these values are put on a map of surveyed territory, isolines are built, higher density of chaotic track distribution stands for impact of the fuel and energy complex enterprises when operating with coal, tracks of radial-beam nature stand for impact of the nuclear fuel complex enterprises, and high density of distribution of chaotic and radial-beam tracks means impact of fuel and energy complex and nuclear fuel complex enterprises.

EFFECT: higher accuracy of detecting a contamination source on ice cover.

2 cl, 4 dwg, 1 tbl