Analysis of radioecological features Chernobyl accident

L.I. Lukina, D.V. Moiseev

Sevastopol State University, Sevastopol, RF, Universitetskaya St., 33

E-mail: dmitriymoiseev@mail.ru

DOI: 10.33075/2220-5861-2022-1-28-42

UDC 577.346

Abstract:

   The paper analyzes the radioecological features of the Chernobyl accident. It is shown that global radiation pollution of a vast territory (millions of hectares) is caused by a number of reasons, among which, along with large-scale radiation emissions (up to 50 million Ki) were: the prolonged nature of the accident, in which radiation emissions lasted ten days from 04.26.86 to 05.05.86; weather and climatic conditions, consisting in a change in the direction of the wind rose and uneven precipitation over the territories of the passage of radioactive clouds; various physical forms and composition of explosion components released into the environment in the form of gas, vapor-aerosol, aerosol mixtures, as well as solid radioactive substances of various sizes, from large-block fragments of the core, nuclear reactor equipment, biological protection to fuel microparticles and soot with radionuclides condensed on them. These factors have caused the spotty nature of pollution of vast territories. The 30-km zone around the fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, transformed into an exclusion zone, was the most polluted. The greatest distances from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant were covered by gaseous and volatile radionuclides, the main biologically significant of which were: in the first post–accident period – radioactive iodine, currently – radioactive cesium. The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is called “rural”, because the accident region belongs to the zone of intensive agricultural production, where the agricultural sector is one of the leading in the economy. Therefore, one of the tasks is the problem of the return to operation of those territories where economic activity has been discontinued or restricted. The relevance of the radioecological problem of plutonium and americium of Chernobyl origin is shown.

Keywords: Chernobyl NPP, accident features, radionuclides, radiation contamination, radioecological consequences, radioecological monitoring.

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