The assessment of the April 2020 chernobyl wildfires and their impact on Cs-137 levels in Belgium and The Netherlands

Meutter, Pieter De; Gueibe, Christophe; Tomas, Jasper; Outer, Peter den; Apituley, Arnoud; Bruggeman, M.; Camps, Johan; Delcloo, Andy; Knetsch, Gert-Jan; Roobol, L. P.; Verheyen, Leen

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2021.106688

Cited by 10 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The dispersion model NPK-Puff (Tomas et al 2021; de Meutter et al 2021) was used to calculate the passive tracer in the radiological assessment of a nuclear detonation scenario, described below. The geometric characteristics of the stabilized cloud that was used in the atmospheric dispersion calculation is described in Appendices A and B; description is given of the applied particle size distribution.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Fallout from Nuclear Weapon Detonations: Efficient Activity and Dose Calculation of Radionuclides and Their Progeny

van Dijk,

de Bode,

Kloosterman

et al. 2024

Health Physics

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The purpose of this paper is to present a practical method for quick determination of potential radiological doses and contaminations by fallout from nuclear detonations, or other releases, that includes the contributions from all nuclides. We precalculate individual (total) activities of all radionuclides from any initial cocktail and all their ingrowing progeny at a set of pinpoints in time with a logarithmic time-spacing. This is combined with the set of dose conversion factors (DCC) for any exposure pathway to obtain a time-dependent cocktail for the whole release as if it is one substance. An atmospheric dispersion model then provides the thinning coefficient of the released material to give local concentrations and dose rates. Progeny ingrowth is illustrated for pure 238U and for a nuclear reactor that has been shut down. Efficient dose assessment is demonstrated for fallout from nuclear detonations and compared with the traditional approach of preselecting nuclides for specific endpoints and periods-of-interest. The compound cocktail DCC reduces the assessment of contaminations and potential dose-effects from fallout after a nuclear detonation to (the atmospheric dispersion of) only one tracer substance, representing any cocktail of nuclides and their progeny. This removes the need to follow all separate nuclides or an endpoint-specific preselection of “most important nuclides.” As the cocktail DCCs can be precalculated and the atmospheric dispersion of only one tracer substance has to be modelled, our method is fast. The model for calculating cocktail DCCs is freely available, easily coupled to any regular atmospheric dispersion model, and therefore ready for operational use by others.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Fallout from Nuclear Weapon Detonations: Efficient Activity and Dose Calculation of Radionuclides and Their Progeny

van Dijk,

de Bode,

Kloosterman

et al. 2024

Health Physics

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show abstract

“…Further west, in Bialystok (Poland), Budapest (Hungary), and Bouc-Bel-Air (south of France), the simulation matched the observation, though the simulation underestimated the values slightly. This discrepancy can be 21 Tabachnyi et al 30 Talerko et al 49 De Meutter et al 50 Evangeliou et al 137 Cs at trace levels using γspectrometry, most investigations and reported data during this event focused on airborne 137 Cs as a tracer of biomass burnings, both on a nation-wide scale (i.e., in Ukraine) and on a continental scale. However, owing to their respective dose coefficients, there is much concern about the emission by wildfires of radionuclides such as 90 Sr, Pu isotopes, and 241 Am.…”

Section: K Concentrations (See Si)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Europe-Wide Atmospheric Radionuclide Dispersion by Unprecedented Wildfires in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, April 2020

Romanenko

Saunier

Kirieiev

et al. 2021

Environ. Sci. Technol.

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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 137 Cs were released into the atmosphere. Smoke plumes partly spread south and west and contributed to the detection of airborne 137 Cs over the Ukrainian territory and as far away as Western Europe. The increase in airborne 137 Cs 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 137 Cs concentrations in Europe. Detections of airborne 90 Sr (emission estimate 345−612 GBq) and Pu (up to 75 GBq, mostly 241 Pu) 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.

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Application of the RODOS decision support system for nuclear emergencies to the analysis of possible consequences of severe accident in distant receptors

Kopka

Mazur

Potempski

et al. 2022

Annals of Nuclear Energy

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The assessment of the April 2020 chernobyl wildfires and their impact on Cs-137 levels in Belgium and The Netherlands

Cited by 10 publications

References 20 publications

Modeling Fallout from Nuclear Weapon Detonations: Efficient Activity and Dose Calculation of Radionuclides and Their Progeny

Modeling Fallout from Nuclear Weapon Detonations: Efficient Activity and Dose Calculation of Radionuclides and Their Progeny

Europe-Wide Atmospheric Radionuclide Dispersion by Unprecedented Wildfires in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, April 2020

Application of the RODOS decision support system for nuclear emergencies to the analysis of possible consequences of severe accident in distant receptors

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