Radioactive fallout and environmental transfers

Smith, Jim T.; Beresford, N.A.

doi:10.1007/3-540-28079-0_2

Cited by 9 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 94 publications

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“…Mushrooms incorporate radiocesium as litter decomposition advances and cesium migrates into the soil. Thus, the radiocesium concentration in European mushrooms increased for a few years after the Chernobyl accident (Borio et al 1991 ;Smith and Beresford 2005 ). Radioactivity was already incorporated into mushrooms in UTCF.…”

Section: Relationship Between Mushroom Contamination and Radiocesium mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mushrooms: Radioactive Contamination of Widespread Mushrooms in Japan

Yamada

2013

Agricultural Implications of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident

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High concentrations of radionuclide contamination of wild mushrooms occurred near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant and along the path of radioactive plumes. This is a serious problem for the forest ecosystem and commercial wild mushroom production. Radioactivity in wild mushrooms collected from low-level contamination forest areas throughout Japan was measured approximately 6 months after the accident. In general, the radioactivity in mushrooms did not exceed those in the neighboring forest litter. However, further accumulation of 137 Cs is expected in mushrooms; therefore, continuous monitoring is necessary even in low-contamination areas. We also found that residual 137 Cs radioactivity due to nuclear weapons tests, mainly in 1950s, besides fallout from the Fukushima nuclear accident still remained in soil and was accumulated by mushrooms.

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Section: Relationship Between Mushroom Contamination and Radiocesium mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mushrooms: Radioactive Contamination of Widespread Mushrooms in Japan

Yamada

2013

Agricultural Implications of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident

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“…Moreover, at this scale topographic anomalies become important in defining the FoV. Nevertheless, Chernobyl deposition has aged over 30 years and much of the contamination is understood to have penetrated sufficiently into the soil column (Smith and Beresford, 2002). This process should have led to reduction in the FoV for a detector at 1m above the ground to approximately less than 10 m (Tyler et al, 1996a).…”

Section: In Situ Gamma-ray Spectrometry Of 137 Cs and Depth Estimationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Highest levels of contamination, in excess of 1.4 MBq/m 2 of 137 Cs occur with the southernmost parts of the reserves territory over lands nearest the Chernobyl reactor while localised areas of high contamination can be found distributed throughout the reserve. Sr-90 is present at densities up to 3 MBq/m 2 while 241 Am levels have approximately doubled over the past twenty years and now approach 0.1 MBq/m 2 in places as a result of ingrowth from 241 Pu (Smith and Beresford, 2002). Actinides such as 238 Pu and 239,240 Pu are present at levels up to 0.037 MBq/m 2 and 0.074 MBq/m 2 respectively.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An in situ method for the high resolution mapping of 137Cs and estimation of vertical depth penetration in a highly contaminated environment

Varley

Tyler

Dowdall

et al. 2017

Science of The Total Environment

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The Chernobyl nuclear power plant meltdown has to date been the single largest release of radioactivity into the environment. As a result, radioactive contamination that poses a significant threat to human health still persists across much of Europe with the highest concentrations associated with Belarus, Ukraine, and western Russia. Of the radionuclides still prevalent with these territories Cs presents one of the most problematic remediation challenges. Principally, this is due to the localised spatial and vertical heterogeneity of contamination within the soil (~10's of meters), thus making it difficult to accurately characterise through conventional measurement techniques such as static in situ gamma-ray spectrometry or soil cores. Here, a practical solution has been explored, which utilises a large number of short-count time spectral measurements made using relatively inexpensive, lightweight, scintillators (sodium iodide and lanthanum bromide). This approach offers the added advantage of being able to estimate activity and burial depth ofCs contamination in much higher spatial resolution compared to traditional approaches. During the course of this work, detectors were calibrated using the Monte Carlo Simulations and depth distribution was estimated using the peak-to-valley ratio. Activity and depth estimates were then compared to five reference sites characterised using soil cores. Estimates were in good agreement with the reference sites, differences of ~25% and ~50% in total inventory were found for the three higher and two lower activity sites, respectively. It was concluded that slightly longer count times would be required for the lower activity (<1MBqm) sites. Modelling and reference site results suggest little advantage would be gained through the use of the substantially more expensive lanthanum bromide detector over the sodium iodide detector. Finally, the potential of the approach was demonstrated by mapping one of the sites and its surrounding area in high spatial resolution.

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“…The accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (Ukraine) on 26 April 1986 remains the worst accident in nuclear history (Smith and Beresford, 2005). The explosion released large quantities of radioactivity into the atmosphere, which spread over much of western Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and Europe (De Cort et al, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-Chernobyl surveys of radiocaesium in soil, vegetation, wildlife and fungi in Great Britain

Chaplow

Beresford

Barnett

2015

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

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Abstract. The data set "Post Chernobyl surveys of radiocaesium in soil, vegetation, wildlife and fungi in Great Britain" was developed to enable data collected by the Natural Environment Research Council after the Chernobyl accident to be made publicly available. Data for samples collected between May 1986 (immediately after Chernobyl) to spring 1997 are presented. Additional data to radiocaesium concentrations are presented where available. The data have value in trying to assess the contribution of new sources of radiocaesium in the environment, providing baseline data for future planned releases and to aid the development and testing of models.

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Radioactive fallout and environmental transfers

Cited by 9 publications

References 94 publications

Mushrooms: Radioactive Contamination of Widespread Mushrooms in Japan

Mushrooms: Radioactive Contamination of Widespread Mushrooms in Japan

An in situ method for the high resolution mapping of 137Cs and estimation of vertical depth penetration in a highly contaminated environment

Post-Chernobyl surveys of radiocaesium in soil, vegetation, wildlife and fungi in Great Britain

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