Monitoring system with automatic sampling units in the surroundings Paks NPP

Continuous monitoring of the uncontrolled tritium emission from Paks Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) has been carried out since starting the NPP operation. In order to control the release of fission and corrosion products as well as ¹⁴C automatic samplers were designed and installed into 20 observation wells in the vicinity of the reactor units. The automatic samplers contain two columns filled with anion and cation exchanger resins and are equipped with filters for trapping the chelating agents. The samplers are placed two meters below the groundwater level. Water pumps fed by accumulator ensure the water flowing through the ion-exchange columns. After a two-month working period the trapped ions are eluted from the resins. The activity of the gamma-emitters, ¹⁴C, ⁹⁰Sr and transuranium elements are measured in the dried elute, the tritium is measured in the collected water phase. The experiences of a five-year monitoring work in the surroundings of Paks NPP are given here.