Chernobyl reactor accident

Anspaugh, L.R., R.J. Catlin, and M. Goldman. 1988. The global impact of the Chernobyl reactor accident. Science 242 1513-1519. 

Brittain, J.E., A. Storruste, and E. Larsen. 1991. Radiocesium in brown trout (Salmo trutta) from a subalpine lake ecosystem after the Chernobyl reactor accident. Jour. Environ. Radioactivity 14 181-191. 

Experience from the 1986 Chernobyl reactor accident in the Ukraine shows the potential magnitude and impact of a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant. The accident involved an explosion in a reactor that releases very high levels of radiation for miles surrounding the reactor site. Low levels of radiation were spread by wind currents throughout Europe and the rest of the world. According to Caldicott 2002,... 

Doerfel, H. Piesch, E. (1987) Radiological consequences in the Federal Republic of Germany of the Chernobyl reactor accident. Radiation Protection Dosimetry, 19, 223-34. 

Fulker, M.J. (1987) Aspects of environmental monitoring by British Nuclear Fuels pic following the Chernobyl reactor accident. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 5, 235-44. 

Short-term Behavior of Radionuclides in the Environment—Contamination from the Chernobyl Reactor Accident... 

The following section provides detailed information concerning the transport of radionuclides associated with two very different field analogues the Chernobyl reactor accident and the Oklo Natural Reactor. These examples span wide temporal and spatial scales and include the rapid geochemical and physical processes important to nuclear reactor accidents or industrial discharges as well as the slower processes important to the geologic disposal of nuclear waste. 

Nakajima, T., External dose to a Japanese tourist from the Chernobyl reactor accident. Health Phys., 53 (1987)405. 

SSI (Swedish National Institute of Radiation Protection), Activities of the Swedish Authorities following the Fallout from the Soviet Chernobyl Reactor Accident, Report 1986-05-12, May, Stockholm, Sweden, 1986a. 

Radioactive material from the Chernobyl accident became widely dispersed throughout Europe and the Northern hemisphere. In Europe alone, about 80,000 TBq of Cs was deposited as follows Belarus 33.5%, Russia 24%, Ukraine 20%, Sweden 4.4%, Finland 4.3%, Bulgaria 2.8%, Austria 2.7%, Norway 2.3%, Romania 2%, and Germany 1.1%. It is probable that the full impact of the Chernobyl reactor accident on natural resources will not be known for several decades, primarily because of data gaps on long-term genetic and reproductive effects and on radiocesium cycling and toxicokinetics. 

The NRPB have produced a report entitled A preliminary assessment of the radiological impact of the Chernobyl reactor accident on the population of the European Community which discusses, amongst other issues, the expected incidence of cancers in the European Community during the next 50 years. Their conclusions are summarised in Table 4.5. 

Figure 1 Gamma spectrum of a soil sample. Natural radionuclides from the uranium and thorium series are detected. The characteristic gamma line of cesium-137 at 662 keV is also displayed. The cesium-137 is due to the nuclear weapons tests and the Chernobyl reactor accident. The sample was taken at Vienna (Austria).

Devell, L. Nuclide composition of Chernobyl hot particles. Proc. Intemat. Workshop Hot Particles from the Chernobyl Fallout, Theuem, Germany, 1987, p. 23-34 Feuerstein, H. Conditions during the release of radionuclides during the Chernobyl reactor accident. Kerntechnik 51, 55-59 (1987)... 

The Chernobyl reactor accident (April 26,1986) produced elevated radioactivity in ambient air. lost et al. (1986) sampled aerosols with an Andersen impactor in Spiez (46°41 N, 7°39 E), Switzerland from April 30 to May 13, 1986 and in Zurich (47°23 N, 8°32 E), Switzerland from May 2 to 8,1986 with a Berner impactor, so soon after the accident. In Figure 2.13 (data from Spiez), it is shown that had a rather different activity size distribution from other fission product radionuclides such as Ru and Cs. Most I was found in the size fraction on the back-up filter (<0.47 pm), whereas Ru and Cs showed a pronounced maximum at 0.93 pm (geometric mean diameter). In Figure 2.14 (data from Zurich), a similar activity size distribution is shown with the maximum for I at 0.35 pm and at 0.71 pm for Ru, Te and Cs. Different activity size distributions were due to the different cutoff diameters of the aerosol sampling devices. The activity size distributions for Ru, Te and Cs are very similar to the concentration patterns of prominent ions, such as NH or and NOJ as determined by ion chromatography. 

Papastefanou, C., Manolopoulou, M., Charalambous, S. (1988). Radiation measurements and radioecological aspects of fallout from the Chernobyl reactor accident. J. Environ. Radioact. 7, 49-64. 

IR measurements for assessing surface temperature are of interest in many contexts. One application is to monitor heat plumes in water adjacent to nuclear power plants. A dramatic example of this concept is shown in Fig. 6.84, documenting the Chernobyl reactor accident as detected by the SPOT and LANDSAT sateUites. The accident is manifested in the major... 

NRPB. "A Preliminary Assessment of the Radiological Impact of the Chernobyl Reactor Accident on the Population of the European Community," Commission of the European Community, Brussels (1986). 

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