Title: Resuspension of coarse fuel hot particles in the Chernobyl area
Author: Wagenpfeil, Florian / Tschiersch, Jochen
Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 52 (1), p.5-16, Jan 2001
doi: 10.1016/S0265-931X(00)00081-3
Keywords: Resuspension; Chernobyl fallout; Hot particles; Aerosol sampler; Digital autoradiography
Abstract: Measurements of resuspended aerosol in the Chernobyl 30-km exclusion zone have shown coarse fuel hot particles in the activity range 1–12 Bq per particle. The particles were sampled with newly designed rotating arm impactors which simultaneously collect during the same experiment three samples with fuel particles in the size ranges larger than 3 μm, larger than 6 μm and larger than 9 μm in geometric diameter. The radionuclide ratios, determined after γ-spectrometry, were in good agreement with the theoretical calculations for the radionuclide-composition of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant at the moment of the accident and the measured hot particles in soil in the early years after the accident. The number concentrations of airborne hot particles were derived from digital autoradiography. For wind resuspension, maximal concentrations of 2.6 coarse hot particles per 1000 m3 and during agricultural activities 36 coarse hot particles per 1000 m3 were measured. The geometric diameter of single hot particles was estimated to be between 6 and 12 μm.
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X00000813
Title: Numerical simulation for a long-range dispersion of a pollutant using Chernobyl data
Author: Suh, Kyung-Suk / Han, Moon-Hee / Jung, Sung-Hee / Lee, Chang-Woo
Reference: Mathematical and Computer Modelling, 49 (1-2), p.337-343, Jan 2009
doi: 10.1016/j.mcm.2008.01.008
Keywords: Lagrangian particle model; Chernobyl; Sensitivity studies; Mixing height
Abstract: A Lagrangian particle model has been developed and applied to a long-range atmospheric dispersion. The developed numerical model has been tested by comparing its predictions with the 137Cs air concentrations recorded over European areas during the Chernobyl accident. Sensitivity studies were performed to investigate the numerical accuracy according to a variation of the parameters such as the mixing height and diffusion coefficient in the model. From a comparative study, the calculated concentration distributions were more sensitive to a variation of the mixing height than to the changes of the diffusion coefficient values. Also, the calculated concentrations agreed with the time series of the measured ones at some sampling points.
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0895717708000459
Title: ACCUMULATION OF RADIOCESIUM BY MUSHROOMS IN THE ENVIRONMENT: A LITERATURE REVIEW AND IMAGE GALLERY
Author: Duff, M / Mary Ramsey, M
Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 2006 Nov 05
Keywords: 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; CONTAMINATION; IMAGES; MUSHROOMS; SAMPLING; SOURCE TERMS; CESIUM 137; BIOLOGICAL ACCUMULATION; CESIUM 134
Abstract: During the last 50 years, a large amount of information on radionuclide accumulators or ‘sentinel-type’ organisms in the environment has been published. Much of this work focused on the risks of food-chain transfer of radionuclides to higher organisms such as reindeer and man. However, until the 1980’s and 1990’s, there has been little published data on the radiocesium ({sup 134}Cs and {sup 137}Cs) accumulation by mushrooms. This presentation will consist of a review of the published data for {sup 134,137}Cs accumulation by mushrooms in nature. The review will consider the time of sampling, sample location characteristics, the radiocesium source term and other aspects that promote {sup 134,137}Cs uptake by mushrooms. This review will focus on published data for mushrooms that demonstrate a large propensity for use in the environmental biomonitoring of radiocesium contamination. It will also provide photographs and descriptions of habitats for many of these mushrooms to facilitate their collection for biomonitoring.
URL: http://www.osti.gov/bridge/product.biblio.jsp?query_id=2&page=0&osti_id=895047
Title: Deposition of artificial radionuclides from atmospheric Nuclear Weapon Tests estimated by soil inventories in French areas low-impacted by Chernobyl
Author: Le Roux, Gaël / Duffa, Céline / Vray, Françoise / Renaud, Philippe
Reference: Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 101 (3), p.211-218, Mar 2010
doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2009.10.010
Keywords: Atmospheric deposition; 137Cs; Plutonium; Americium; Nuclear Weapon Tests; France
Abstract: Soil inventories of anthropogenic radionuclides were investigated in altitudinal transects in 2 French regions, Savoie and Montagne Noire. Rain was negligible in these 2 areas the days after the Chernobyl accident. Thus anthropogenic radionuclides are coming hypothetically only from Global Fallout following Atmospheric Nuclear Weapon Tests. This is confirmed by the isotopic signatures (238Pu/239+240Pu; 137Cs/239+240Pu; and 241Am/239+240Pu) close to Global Fallout value. In Savoie, a peat core age-dated by 210Pbex confirmed that the main part of deposition of anthropogenic radionuclides occurred during the late sixties and the early seventies. In agreement with previous studies, the anthropogenic radionuclide inventories are well correlated with the annual precipitations. However, this is the first time that a study investigates such a large panel of annual precipitation and therefore of anthropogenic radionuclide deposition. It seems that at high-altitude sites, deposition of artificial radionuclides was higher possibly due to orographic precipitations.
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X09002434
Title: Comparative radiation impact on biota and man in the area affected by the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
Author: Fesenko, S V / Alexakhin, R M / Geras’kin, S A / Sanzharova, N I / Spirin, Ye V / Spiridonov, S I / Gontarenko, I A / Strand, P
Reference: Journal of environmental radioactivity, 80 (1), p.1-25, Jan 2005
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2004.08.011
Keywords: Radiation protection; Chernobyl accident; Radiation impact; Non-human species; Man
Abstract: A methodological approach for a comparative assessment of ionising radiation effects on man and non-human species, based on the use of Radiation Impact Factor (RIF) – ratios of actual exposure doses to biota species and man to critical dose is described. As such doses, radiation safety standards limiting radiation exposure of man and doses at which radiobiological effects in non-human species were not observed after the Chernobyl accident, were employed. For the study area within the 30 km ChNPP zone dose burdens to 10 reference biota groups and the population (with and without evacuation) and the corresponding RIFs were calculated. It has been found that in 1986 (early period after the accident) the emergency radiation standards for man do not guarantee adequate protection of the environment, some species of which could be affected more than man. In 1991 RIFs for man were considerably (by factor of 20.0–1.1 × 105) higher compared with those for selected non-human species. Thus, for the long term after the accident radiation safety standards for man are shown to ensure radiation safety for biota as well.
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0265931X04002620
Title: Reduced abundance of raptors in radioactively contaminated areas near Chernobyl
Author: Møller, Anders Pape / Mousseau, Timothy A.
Reference: Journal of Ornithology, 150 (1), p.239-246, Jan 2009
doi:10.1007/s10336-008-0343-5
Keywords: Birds of prey, Predators, Radiation at Chernobyl, Trophic level
Abstract: The negative ecological effects of radioactive contamination around Chernobyl have recently been suggested to be moderate and declining because of an increasing number of anecdotal observations of several species of rare animals including predators. However, these claims were not based on empirical evidence. Radionuclides show bio-accumulation with trophic level, and the abundance of birds is depressed in radioactively contaminated areas around Chernobyl. Therefore, we predicted that birds of prey should be less abundant with increasing levels of radiation. Here, we use our long-term field data from 1991 to 2007 in three different analyses based on observations of raptors using standardized point counts, censuses during capture of barn swallows Hirundo rustica that habitually give alarm calls when a raptor is present, and line transects while driving on roads. Analyses suggest that the abundance of birds of prey is reduced in contaminated areas, and that there is evidence of a recent increase in abundance of raptors in less contaminated areas, but not in the most contaminated ones. Our findings suggest that birds of prey that are top level consumers in ecosystems suffer from reduced abundance in radioactively contaminated areas.
URL: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10336-008-0343-5
Title: Historical mutation rates predict susceptibility to radiation in Chernobyl birds
Author: MØLLER, A. P. / ERRITZøE, J. / KARADAS, F. / MOUSSEAU, T. A.
Reference: Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 23 (10), p.2132-2142, Aug 2010
doi: 10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02074.x
Keywords: antioxidants; birds; extreme environmental perturbation; mitochondrial DNA; substitution rates
Abstract: Extreme environmental perturbations are rare, but may have important evolutionary consequences. Responses to current perturbations may provide important information about the ability of living organisms to cope with similar conditions in the evolutionary past. Radioactive contamination from Chernobyl constitutes one such extreme perturbation, with significant but highly variable impact on local population density and mutation rates of different species of animals and plants. We explicitly tested the hypothesis that species with strong impacts of radiation on abundance were those with high rates of historical mutation accumulation as reflected by cytochrome b mitochondrial DNA base-pair substitution rates during past environmental perturbations. Using a dataset of 32 species of birds, we show higher historical mitochondrial substitution rates in species with the strongest negative impact of local levels of radiation on local population density. These effects were robust to different estimates of impact of radiation on abundance, weighting of estimates of abundance by sample size, statistical control for similarity in the response among species because of common phylogenetic descent, and effects of population size and longevity. Therefore, species that respond strongly to the impact of radiation from Chernobyl are also the species that in the past have been most susceptible to factors that have caused high substitution rates in mitochondrial DNA.
URL:http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02074.x/abstract
Title: Dealing with Chernobyl‘s genetic legacy
Author: Widney, George
Reference: The Lancet, 348 (9029), p.748, Sep 1996
doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)65628-0
Keywords:
Abstract: …that. In childhood-thyroid cancer, Anspaugh said, the increased…many of the children with thyroid cancer had had relatively low thyroid doses of 0·1 Gy or less…cytogenetic studies, primarily of Chernobyl clean-up workers, J R Lazutka..
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673605656280
Title: USSR: Medical effects of Chernobyl disaster
Author: Brennan, Mary,
Reference: The Lancet, 335 (8697), p.1086, May 1990
doi: 10.1016/0140-6736(90)92647-Z
Keywords:
Abstract: …Medical effects of Chernobyl disaster Mary Brennan…station disaster at Chernobyl, new evidence collected…radiation damage to the thyroid, for in this area 20…population, an increase in cancer registration of between…Specifically, the number of thyroid cancers is increasing…
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/014067369092647Z
Title: Radiation dose to the pancreas and risk of diabetes mellitus in childhood cancer survivors: a retrospective cohort study
Author: de Vathaire, Florent / El-Fayech, Chiraz / Ben Ayed, Faten Fedhila / Haddy, Nadia / Guibout, Catherine / Winter, David / Thomas-Teinturier, Cécile / (…) / Oberlin, Odile
Reference: The Lancet Oncology, 13 (10), p.1002-1010, Oct 2012
doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(12)70323-6
Keywords: childhood cancer
Abstract: …We sent a questionnaire to 3468 survivors of a childhood cancer treated in eight centres in France and the UK between 1946 and 1985, of which 2520 were returned. Each self-declaration of diabetes was confirmed by contacting the patients’ medical doctors. We estimated the radiation dose received by the tail, head, and body of the pancreas and 185 other anatomical sites during each course of radiotherapy from 1990 to 1995 for each child after reconstruction of the conditions in which irradiation was delivered. We investigated the relation between radiation dose to the pancreas and the risk of a subsequent diabetes diagnosis….
…252·4) * Adjusted for age at cancer, calendar year at cancer, sex, chemotherapy…areas highly contaminated by the Chernobyl nuclear…study, in a cohort of childhood cancer survivors…
URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470204512703236
