MOSCOW, April 9. /TASS/. Evgeny Yakovlev, a young scientist, moved to the North six years ago from a village in Chuvashia. When at the university, he got interested in radiology. However, back then he could not imagine he would use the skills in the Arctic - from the Kola Peninsula to Novaya Zemlya. To date, he studies isotopes, works on methods to find diamonds, analyzes how the permafrost degrades and how global nuclear accidents have affected swamps in the Arkhangelsk Region.
Evgeny was born in southern Chuvashia (Central Russia) in a small village where fewer than 150 people lived. In his class were only four school students. Later on, the school was closed, and senior students took a school bus to go to a neighboring village. He liked lessons in geography, and went to study at the Ulyanov State University in Cheboksary.
During a practical course, he worked at a radiology lab, and later on he was offered a position there.
"While a student, I began working full-time," he said. "I took part in studies of the Astrakhan gas condensate deposit - the biggest in Europe."
Back then, the scientists were expected to explain excessive water in the wells and to find sources of that water. They studied isotope structures. "Isotope data give reliable information about water sources," the scientist said.
After the university, Evgeny went to serve in the army, hoping to return to the research institute, where his position was reserved for him. But by that time, the institute had been closed.
"My boss, Anatoly Tikhonov, said it may be possible to continue the radioactive studies in Arkhangelsk. His old friend was the head of that ecology radiology lab. They had worked together in Kyrgyzstan, but the USSR collapsed and in 1993 they went separate ways. Georgy Kiselev was invited to Arkhangelsk to organize new Arctic studies. Tikhonov returned to Chuvashia and opened there a radiometric lab at the ministry of natural resources."
Evgeny did not hesitate: he was a get-up-and-go person, and the idea of moving to the North did not frighten him. The topic was interesting, had sufficient experience and what mattered then was to move on.
In July, 2014, Evgeny came to Arkhangelsk and at first could not see much difference: the weather was warm, the summer did not look like a northern summer. Differences from sunny Chuvashia became clear in autumn: overcast, gloomy and very cold.
"I came to Arkhangelsk with one bag. I was given a room at a hostel, a scholarship, a salary of a research intern," he said.
Diamond indicators
Since the labs in Arkhangelsk and in Cheboksary had been organized by followers of one scientific school, the young researcher settled easily: he was aware of the methods, knew how to use the equipment, and very soon continued post-graduate studies. Georgy Kiselev recommended to him to study using radiometric methods in searching for diamond deposits.
"Gorgy Kiselev had a big working experience. He was an expert in geophysics, he had used radioactive methods in mineral exploration in Middle Asia: they conducted air-geo-physical works, took images off planes and helicopters. His idea was to use radiometric methods to find minerals in the North, including diamonds," the young scientist said.
Yakovlev and Kiselev studied whether radioactive elements are indicators of the processes in the Earth nucleus and whether they stimulate growth of diamond deposits. Interestingly, the rocks, often containing diamonds, are known to have increased contents of some naturally occurring radioactive elements. The rates are very low, but modern equipment can fix even very small changes in radioactive fields.
Thus, the scientists suggested criteria, which may point to such features in a certain area. Those were fundamental studies, but in future their results may be used practically.
"Quite a lot has been done, but there is still a lot to do, as certain patterns are still to be confirmed. Thanks to a grant from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research we have focused on theoretical work, on modeling, we are conducting lab experiments with rocks, we are already looking into such a delicate structure," Evgeny explained. "Glacial deposits are well developed in the Arkhangelsk Region. The part of the glacier, which was here, contains a lot of radioactive elements. The power of these deposits is very high in some places, thus false halos are formed. Presently we are working to somehow understand which halos are falsely formed and which are not."
Permafrost’s impact
In 2019, Evgeny Yakovlev became head of the radiology lab at the Arctic complex studies center of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Urals branch in Arkhangelsk.
It is one of the biggest labs at the Arctic center. It employs 24 specialists. The area of studies includes the Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Nenets, Komi regions, waters of the Barents and White Seas, and areas of the Arctic archipelagoes.
A big project focuses on degradation of the perennially frozen grounds. This topic is extremely important since warming in the Arctic develops quicker than elsewhere on the planet and the permafrost’s thawing may cause global catastrophes similar to the accident in Norilsk.
The permafrost’s biggest part is hidden deeply underneath, and it is very complicated, expensive and sometimes even impossible to study reactions in deeper layers. Thus, it is most important to work on alternative methods to analyze the permafrost’s conditions, using natural evidences: whether it is thawing or stable, and if it is thawing then where and how quickly. This could be seen by analyzing the share of isotopes of certain elements in rivers and underground waters.
The ratio of stable and radioactive isotopes may "say" a lot about climate conditions of water formation. "The permafrost’s underground ice, which formed during glacial periods, has formed a certain share of isotopes. In case of the permafrost’s degradation, melted water gets involved into the water exchange process," the scientist said.
In September, 2020, researchers sailed about 1,800 km along the Pechora - from its beginning to the end - and collected a few hundred samples from the river and its tributaries. The expedition’s time - from late summer to early autumn - is the period when the impact from precipitation is minimal.
The Pechora’s basin is huge, with a wide variety of natural conditions: from a complete lack of frozen grounds in southern Komi to practically absolute permafrost in the northern Nenets Region.
Scientists still study those samples. In addition to them, the experts have collected water samples in the Volga region - a few thousand years ago that area was the permafrost, and the data from there will be used for comparison purposes.
The scientists have organized three stations to observe how shares of isotopes change in water within a year. Those stations are on the Pechora River in Naryan-Mar, on the Northern Dvina in Arkhangelsk and on the Pinega.
"In order to understand how the situation may develop, we need to know the speed of degradation, the mechanisms, including indirect ones." The scientist stresses the importance of understanding how the permafrost, which has turned out to be not quite perennial, behaves to avoid negative consequences from developing human activities in the Arctic. "We can see clearly what consequences may be like: the degradation of sea shores, methane emissions (the Yamal crater), unstable soils under residential and industrial buildings, and so forth."
Radioactive history of swamps
Another direction for experts working at the lab is to study swamps. Northern swamps are like notebooks, which keep memories of all man-made accidents. The scientists have studied swamps in the Arkhangelsk, Murmansk and Nenets regions.
In the peat from the Arkhangelsk region there are two peaks of radionuclides, the scientist said.
"The first peak refers to about 1962. It was caused by the global fallouts from massive nuclear tests in the atmosphere, which were outlawed in 1963," Evgeny said. "Plus - traces from the accident with the US’ Transit-5B satellite, which had a plutonium nuclear power unit."
On April 21, 1964, the satellite burned over the Indian Ocean, scattering into the atmosphere 950 grams of plutonium-238, which increased more than tenfold the Earth’s radioactive background.
Another peak of radionuclides’ concentration referred to 1986-1988. It was a consequence from the Chernobyl accident. The impact remains in the North, in the Arkhangelsk region.
"The Chernobyl fallouts reached the region, though there were claims there had been none. In the Arkhangelsk region there is a trace from the Chernobyl accident, which has been proved by the nuclear share of plutonium isotopes and which was an important result of the studies."
Different man-made isotopes have different half-lives. That of cesium-137, for example, is about 30 years, and its most part has already decayed. But elements like americium or plutonium decay much longer. And they need to be monitored. Because of the warming in the Arctic, isotopes that are now in the peat bogs may start to move upwards and become available to plants and animals.
"In future this problem will only grow, and we shall see higher radioactivity on the surface due to the emission of radionuclides, which have been blocked inside the peat bogs," the scientist added. "This aspect must be studied, and this is what we do to forecast those changes in radioactivity."
Reference sea
As the Arctic warms and the ice melts, man-made radionuclides may also be released from the glaciers of Novaya Zemlya, and, interestingly, their activity has been decreasing there in recent years. During the Trans-Arctic-2019 expedition Evgeny studied distribution of radioactive isotopes in the Barents Sea: in bottom sediments and in coastal areas.
That is, the level of radioactivity in the Barents Sea is very low, although we know that it once was exposed to fallout of radioactive elements after nuclear tests. Nevertheless, the danger of man-made contamination remains, because the Arctic ice has gained a lot of man-made radionuclides, which fell out during the tests before 1980," the researcher said. "They are deposited there, and now there is a warming trend, and all that will be released, of course."
Scientists also obtained data on the content of natural radionuclides in bottom sediments. This information is important because the share of natural radionuclides in bottom sediments rises sharply in areas of offshore hydrocarbon production. The reason for that is the isotopes from associated waters.
"And since no large-scale offshore production projects have begun in the Barents Sea, the information we received will be the basis for further impact assessment."
Catching radon to control cancer
The laboratory conducts research on radon activity. There are two areas: how to use radon in search for minerals and how to use it in assessment of the radon hazard in northern regions.
Radon is a radioactive gas of natural origin, which is formed during the decay of uranium, which is present in all rocks and soils. This odorless, colorless gas can be present in high concentrations in indoor air, such as in homes. It is considered one of the reasons for lung cancer. That is why building sites are always tested for the presence and concentration of radon before construction begins.
"Experts measure the density of radon flux on the surface of the ground." The scientist explained that within the existing methodology it is difficult to take into account all the factors, which influence radon formation, which may reflect the actual situation inaccurately. "Since the flux is measured on the surface, it is influenced by various physical factors, atmospheric processes. And the second point: it is measured on the surface, and when you make a pit, some of the soil is removed, and we may get an inaccurate picture.
The laboratory is developing approaches to assess the radon hazard, taking into account various parameters. In the future, it will be possible to develop a method to see most fully how safe a particular site is.
In late 2020, Yakovlev received the regional Lomonosov Prize in the Young Scientist nomination. One in two specialists in his laboratory is a young scientist. Evgeny says that, of course, being a manager he has to address quite a lot of administrative work, but anyway scientific activity is his main occupation.
The researcher is writing a PhD thesis. The topic is related to changes of radioactive elements in anthropogenic activities and climate change, the assessment of mining industry impact on ecosystems of Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, Nenets and Karelia regions, including their marine areas.