1. Europe-wide atmospheric radionuclide dispersion by unprecedented wildfires in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, April 2020
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Damien Didier, Benjamin Zorko, Catalina Gascó-Leonarte, V. Durand, Frederic Coppin, R. Rusconi, A. Dalheimer, Jerzy W. Mietelski, K. Isajenko, Alexandra Ioannidou, Philippe Renaud, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Júlia Kövendiné Kónyi, I. Sýkora, Daniel Zapata-García, Gennady Laptev, Vladimir Samsonov, Serhii Kirieiev, Johan Kastlander, José Antonio Suarez-Navarro, Elena Simion, Anne de Vismes Ott, Tero Karhunen, Olivier Saunier, Renata Kierepko, Oleksandr Romanenko, Maxime Morin, Pavel P. Povinec, Bredo Møller, Olga Belyaeva, Michael Mirsch, H. Wershofen, Philipp Steinmann, Olivier Masson, Miroslav Hýža, Jelena Krneta Nikolić, Valentin Protsak, B. Boulet, Johan Camps, Georg Steinhauser, Stylianos Stoulos, Gert-Jan Knetsch, Christian Katzlberger, Oleg Voitsekhovych, Laboratoire d'étude et d'expertise sur la radioactivité de l'environnement [Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance] (PSE-ENV/SEREN/LEREN), Institut de Radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN), PSE-SANTE/SESUC/BMCA, Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute, Ukrainian Hydrometeorological Institute (UHMI), Laboratoire de recherche sur les transferts de radionucléides dans les écosystèmes terrestres (LR2T), PSE-ENV/SAME/LMRE, PSE-ENV, PSE-SANTE/SESUC, PRP-ENV/STEME/LMRE, Laboratoire de Mesure de la Radioactivité dans l’Environnement, PSE-ENV/SIRSE/LSE, National Radiation Protection Institute (SÚRO), Centre d’Etude de l’Energie Nucléaire (SCK-CEN), Center for Ecological-Noosphere Studies (NAS RA), Radiation And Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI), National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Jozef Stefan Institute [Ljubljana] (IJS), PSE-ENV/SEREN/LEREN, Rivne NPP (Rivne NPP), State Specialized Enterprise ECOCENTRE (SSE ECOCENTRE), PSE-ENV/SRTE/LR2T, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institute of Radioecology andRadiation Protection (Leibniz Universität Hannover), Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD), Institute of Nuclear and Radiological Sciences & Technology, Energy & Safety, National Centre for Scientific Research (NCSR Demokritos), Unidad de Radioactividad Ambiental y Vigilancia Radiológica, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), Nuclear Physics and Elementary Particle Physics Division, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection (CLRP), Department of Radiation Protection and Technical Quality Assurance, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), The Henryk Nievodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, (IFJ), Division of Environmental and Public Radiohygiene, National Research Institute for Radiobiology and Radiohygiene (OSSKI), The Henryk Nievodniczanski Institute of Nuclear Physics (IFJ), mergency Preparedness and Response, Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA), Laboratory for Radiation Measurements. Department of Radiation and Environmental Protection, Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences (Vinča Institute), Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, Comenius University, Centro Regionale Radioprotezione, Agenzia Regionale per la Protezione dell’Ambiente della Lombardia (ARPA Lombardia), Republican Center of Hydrometeorology, Radioactive Contamination Control and Environmental Monitoring, DEPARTMENT OF NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND BIOPHYSICS, National Reference Laboratory, National Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Radioactivity Section, Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH - OFSP), Nuclear Physics and Elementary Particle Physics Division, Physics Department, UNIDAD DE RADIOACTIVIDAD AMBIENTAL Y VIGILANCIA RADIOLÓGICA, 11 Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas (CIEMAT), and Institut 'Jozef Stefan' (IJS)
- Subjects
010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences ,010501 environmental sciences ,7. Clean energy ,01 natural sciences ,Arrival time ,Fires ,wildfire ,Wildfires ,dose assessment ,Environmental Chemistry ,Exclusion zone ,Precipitation ,chernobyl ,radionuclides ,0105 earth and related environmental sciences ,Anthropogenic radionuclides ,Smoke ,firefighters ,[SDV.EE.SANT]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology, environment/Health ,Radionuclide ,General Chemistry ,Atmospheric dispersion modeling ,Plume ,Europe ,Chernobyl Nuclear Accident ,13. Climate action ,Air Pollutants, Radioactive ,Cesium Radioisotopes ,[SDE]Environmental Sciences ,Environmental science ,[SDV.SPEE]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Santé publique et épidémiologie ,Physical geography ,Ukraine - Abstract
International audience; From early April 2020, wildfires raged in the highly contaminated areas around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (CNPP), Ukraine. For about 4 weeks, the fires spread around and into the Chernobyl exclusion zone (CEZ) and came within a few kilometers of both the CNPP and radioactive waste storage facilities. Wildfires occurred on several occasions throughout the month of April. They were extinguished, but weather conditions and the spread of fires by airborne embers and smoldering fires led to new fires starting at different locations of the CEZ. The forest fires were only completely under control at the beginning of May, thanks to the tireless and incessant work of the firefighters and a period of sustained precipitation. In total, 0.7–1.2 TBq 137Cs were released into the atmosphere. Smoke plumes partly spread south and west and contributed to the detection of airborne 137Cs over the Ukrainian territory and as far away as Western Europe. The increase in airborne 137Cs ranged from several hundred μBq·m–3 in northern Ukraine to trace levels of a few μBq·m–3 or even within the usual background level in other European countries. Dispersion modeling determined the plume arrival time and was helpful in the assessment of the possible increase in airborne 137Cs concentrations in Europe. Detections of airborne 90Sr (emission estimate 345–612 GBq) and Pu (up to 75 GBq, mostly 241Pu) were reported from the CEZ. Americium-241 represented only 1.4% of the total source term corresponding to the studied anthropogenic radionuclides but would have contributed up to 80% of the inhalation dose.
- Published
- 2021
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