In April 2020, the largest forest fire occurred in the Chornobyl Exclusion zone in its history. The results of modeling the atmospheric transport of radioactive aerosols raised into the atmosphere as a result of fires in forest and grass areas in the Exclusion zone, as well as in radioactively contaminated forests outside it in Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions are presented in the paper. To assess the consequences of forest fires, a set of models of lifting, atmospheric transport and deposition of radionuclides on the underlying surface LEDI, developed at the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, was used. Calculations of the dynamics of the 137Cs activity concentration field in the surface air on a regional scale (in Ukraine) and on a local scale (within the Exclusion zone) were performed. According to the simulation results, the maximum values of the 137Cs activity in the surface air of Kyiv in some periods during April 4−20 could reach 2−4 mBq/m3, and the integral value of 137Cs activity in the air of Kyiv for the whole period was about 450 mBq⋅s/m3. The obtained results are generally consistent with the data of measurements of radioactive contamination of the nearground air in Kyiv and areas of the nuclear power plants in Ukraine. The analysis of the consistency of the simulation results with the data of measurements of the 137Cs activity concentration in the air in the Exclusion zone was performed. The main ways to improve the methodology for assessing the consequences of forest fires by modeling the atmospheric transport of radionuclides are identified.
The increased risk of thyroid cancer among individuals exposed during childhood and adolescence to Iodine-131 ( 131 I) is the main statistically significant long-term effect of the Chornobyl accident. Several radiation epidemiological studies have been carried out or are currently in progress in Ukraine, to assess the risk of radiation-related health effects in exposed populations. About 150,000 measurements of 131 I thyroid activity, so-called 'direct thyroid measurements', performed in May-June 1986 in the Ukrainian population served as the main sources of data used to estimate thyroid doses to the individuals of these studies. However, limitations in the direct thyroid measurements have been recently recognized including improper measurement geometry and unknown true values of calibration coefficients for unchecked thyroid detectors. In the present study, a comparative analysis of 131 I thyroid activity measured by calibrated and unchecked devices in residents of the same neighboring settlements was conducted to evaluate the correct measurement geometry and calibration coefficients for measuring devices. As a result, revised values of 131 I thyroid activity were obtained. On average, in Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Lviv and Chernihiv Oblasts and in the city of Kyiv, the revised values of the 131 I thyroid activities were found to be 10-25% higher than previously reported, while in Zhytomyr Oblast, the values of the revised activities were found to be lower by about 50%. New sources of shared and unshared errors associated with estimates of 131 I thyroid activity were identified. The revised estimates of thyroid activity are recommended to be used to develop an updated Thyroid Dosimetry system (TD20) for the entire population of Ukraine as well as to revise the thyroid doses for the individuals included in post-Chornobyl radiation epidemiological studies: the Ukrainian-American cohort of individuals exposed during childhood and adolescence, the Ukrainian in utero cohort and the Chornobyl Tissue Bank.
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