Radioactive Leak Fears in Russia

[Friendly Engineer]

Radioactive leak threat in Russia as flood heads for Uranium mines

Russia's Urals region and neighboring northern Kazakhstan have suffered the worst flooding in 80 years.

www.newsweek.com

I just thought I'd post this to tell you all that even if all the uranium escaped, all 7077 tons, the radiation released would be alpha, which poses no risk if appropriate PPE is worn (i.e. respirator, and don't drink or eat it).
Uranium really isn't that radioactive, the total radiation release would be considerably less than Fukushima or Chernobyl.

I would be surprised if there was an uptick in cancers in a few years.

For context, a Bq or Becquerel is a single decay. e.g. 1 gamma ray or 1 alpha particle.

Natural uranium has a specific activity of ~ 25 Bq/mg or 25*10^3 Bq/g
1 ton = 1*10^6 g
so 7077*10^6 grams
7077*10^6 * 25*10^3 = 1.77*10^14 or 0.177 PBq

For context, the total radiation release at Fukushima was ~ 770 PBq

Compare 770 PBq with 0.177 PBq, so the total release of all the uranium at the mine would be 0.023% of the radiation release at Fukushima, tiny by comparison. It should also be noted that no member of the public was put at increased risk of cancer by the accident at Fukushima.

Also, that 770 PBq is for Beta & Gamma activity, uranium undergoes alpha decay, which can be stopped by skin and only poses a risk if ingested or inhaled.

 

[Friendly Engineer]

Radioactive leak threat in Russia as flood heads for Uranium mines

Russia's Urals region and neighboring northern Kazakhstan have suffered the worst flooding in 80 years.

www.newsweek.com

I just thought I'd post this to tell you all that even if all the uranium escaped, all 7077 tons, the radiation released would be alpha, which poses no risk if appropriate PPE is worn (i.e. respirator, and don't drink or eat it).
Uranium really isn't that radioactive, the total radiation release would be considerably less than Fukushima or Chernobyl.

I would be surprised if there was an uptick in cancers in a few years.

For context, a Bq or Becquerel is a single decay. e.g. 1 gamma ray or 1 alpha particle.

Natural uranium has a specific activity of ~ 25 Bq/mg or 25*10^3 Bq/g
1 ton = 1*10^6 g
so 7077*10^6 grams
7077*10^6 * 25*10^3 = 1.77*10^14 or 0.177 PBq

For context, the total radiation release at Fukushima was ~ 770 PBq

Compare 770 PBq with 0.177 PBq, so the total release of all the uranium at the mine would be 0.023% of the radiation release at Fukushima, tiny by comparison. It should also be noted that no member of the public was put at increased risk of cancer by the accident at Fukushima.

Also, that 770 PBq is for Beta & Gamma activity, uranium undergoes alpha decay, which can be stopped by skin and only poses a risk if ingested or inhaled.

TL;DR
Nothing to worry about. Just thought I'd say something in case someone came across this and was concerned.