22 Mar Renare Mark spring 2024
Some representatives from Kemakta have participated in Renare Mark’s annual spring meeting, which this time took place in Karlstad on 13–14 March. This year’s spring meeting offered many interesting presentations under the main theme of the meeting “obstacles and opportunities in contaminated areas“.
Kemakta participated with a presentation under the theme of contaminated areas in practice, where Sandra Broms presented “The mercury hunt in Vinterviken, a real-life remediation story in Nobel’s footsteps“. Sandra explained how Kemakta, in collaboration with IVL, went about identifying an unknown source of mercury levels in an older residential building that had previously been used as a laboratory and what challenges and obstacles arose along the way. The presentation also described sampling strategies and measurement methods for mercury in indoor air during environmental monitoring and the method used to remediate and dispose of metallic mercury in building materials.
Karin Norrfors presented a model developed by Kemakta for the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority, which is used as a basis for assessing acceptable contamination levels of radionuclides in soil. Land clearance should occur when activities involving radiation are discontinued. The question of acceptable contamination levels of radionuclides in soil can also arise at sites for non-nuclear activities, for example storage of ash from the combustion of cesium-containing wood. The model is based on the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s guideline value model for contaminated soil and also includes external dose from gamma radiation and intake of meat and milk produced in the area. The model can also be used to calculate radionuclide levels in groundwater and radon levels in indoor air that arise as a consequence of soil contamination.
