Radioactivity measurements in air over Europe after the Chernobyl accident

Title: Radioactivity measurements in air over Europe after the Chernobyl accident

Author: Frank Raes, Giovanni Graziani, David Stanners, Franco Girardi

Reference: Atmospheric Environment. Part A. General Topics, Volume 24, Issue 4, 1990, Pages 909-916

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0960-1686(90)90293-V

Keywords: Chernobyl; air concentrations; LRT; Cs-134/Cs-137

Abstract: A comprehensive European data set of radioactivity in air caused by the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is presented. For the first 2 weeks after the beginning of the release, levels of particulate I-131, Cs-134 and Cs-137 (85 locations) and of total I-131 (10 locations) are given. All data are stored in a computerized data base. For the first time the passage of the Chernobyl cloud over Europe is mapped after re-averaging the time histories in each location to produce coherent daily concentrations. Cs-134/Cs-137 ratios were analyzed: the ‘European’ average ratio calculated from 1239 samples is 0.55, with a standard deviation of 0.25.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/096016869090293V