Recently in Environment Category

By now, I'm sure most of you have heard about the wildfires that are currently raging across Russia. More than 800 wildfires have been reported across the country, which is suffering from its worst heat wave since recod-keeping began over 130 years ago. Russia's Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoygu has warned that some of these wildfires in western regions could release radioactive nuclides from land previously contaminated by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Special laboratories are monitoring the potential release of radioactive contaminants in Russia's Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine. This area was contaminated with Cesium-137 and Strontium-90 by fallout from the Chernobyl accident. Radioactive substances from Chernobyl still remain in the upper layer of soil in the forests of Bryansk, Lipetsk, Kaluga and Tula.

The Russian wildfires have the potential to raise some of the radioactive fallout from the ground and release it into the air. More intensive fire protection work is now underway in the Chernobyl-affected areas of Russia.

Approximately 425 wildfires have also been reported throughout Ukraine. It is not clear if any are located within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

Image: Акутагава (Creative Commons)

As a result of the 1986 nuclear accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, approximately 24,700 people were evacuated from a 1,700 sq. km. area in Belarus. At the same time, the land in this area was withdrawn from economic use. In 1988, the Soviet government created the Polesie State Radiation Ecological Reserve (PSRER) was created on most of that land. In 1993, land of an adjacent resettlement area was added to the reserve, increasing its size to 2,154 sq. km.

The purpose of the reserve is to prevent the spread of radionuclides to less contaminated territories, study the effects of radiation on plants, conduct radiation-ecological monitoring and perform research.

In the abandoned village of Masan, within the PSRER borders, is a radiation research monitoring station. The facility is situated approximately 12 km. from the Chernobyl Plant in what used to be an abandoned house on an old farm that previously had 40 cm. of radiation-saturated soil removed.

Two scientists typically live at the station for 12-14 days per month.  The house has a working and living room, kitchen, bathroom and storage for batteries that are charged by solar panels.  Of course, fresh drinking water is brought to the station from outside the reserve.

From the top of a 20-meter high observation tower, scientists can see the Chernobyl Plant, high-rise buildings in Pripyat and beautiful panoramas of the Polesie landscape.

In Belarus, the Chernobyl Zone consists of two areas:

• Zone of Alienation: limited human activity, with forests planted to help prevent the transfer of radionuclides from dust
• Exclusion Zone: humans are not allowed to live here due to high levels of radiation

In early January 2010, reports indicated that groundwater wells at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant were contaminated with radioactive tritium. A new report just released by Vermont State Department of Health Officials indicates radioactive tritium was found in a deeper well than at the location of the previously discovered leak. This news comes on the heels of last week's announcement by Vermont Yankee personnel that they had stopped all of the plant's tritium leaks.

In May 2009, prior to these findings, Vermont Yankee's vice-president of operations told the Vermont Public Service Board there was no underground piping at the facility. However, an October 2009 report by an oversight panel of nuclear experts confirmed the presence of contaminated underground pipes.

Initial tritium measurements at the site showed levels of the isotope were below the Environmental Protection Agency's maximum acceptable amount for drinking water. By mid-January, the levels of tritium had risen to 20,000 picocuries per liter, the maximum federal limit for drinking water.

On February 4, 2010, Vermont Yankee reported that groundwater samples from a new monitoring well had approximately 775,000 picocuries of tritium per liter, over 37 times the EPA safe drinking water limit. Further water samples taken on February 5-6 from an underground vault and groundwater measured between 2.45 and 2.7 million picocuries per liter. Straight reactor water averages 2.9 million picocuries per liter.

Contamination has yet to be detected in the nearby Connecticut River, but officials are continuously monitoring the situation.

In addition to being a product of nuclear fission, Tritium can be found in nature in very small amounts. The substance has been linked to cancer if it is ingested, inhaled or absorbed through the skin in large amounts.

An Associated Press story from early February claims that at least 27 of the United States' 104 nuclear reactors at 65 plant sites are currently leaking radioactive tritium. These leaks are suspected to be coming from deteriorating underground pipes.

Photo: Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The U.K. Food Standards Agency recently published three 2008 monitoring reports about sheep on farms across England, Scotland and Wales that remain under post-Chernobyl restrictions. According to these new reports, none of the affected farms were considered suitable to have their restrictions lifted.

As a result of the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, large quantities of radioactivity was released into the atmosphere. Some of this radioactive contamination fell on upland areas of the United Kingdom where sheep are farmed.

To protect consumers, restrictions were placed upon the movement and sale of sheep from U.K. areas where contamination levels in sheep meat is over 1,000 Becquerels per kilogram (the safety limit set in 1986). Live sheep are currently monitored using hand-held radiation monitors that provide a count rate relating to radioactive contamination.

In 1986, almost 9,000 farms fell under these restrictions. Today, only 369 farms are still under restriction, 95% of which are located in northern Wales.

The Food Standards Agency will continue to survey the sheep to ensure that farms can be released from their restrictions as soon as possible, once the contamination levels in the sheep fall within safety limits.

Image: Welsh Sheep - Photo: Ian Wilson

The State Office of the Public Prosecutor of Ukraine has concluded that radiation from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is still reaching the Dnipr River. The Dnipr supplies water to many Ukrainian cities including the capital, Kyiv.

Tatyana Kornyakova, assistant to the public prosecutor, made the remarks after a study determined that radiation, particularly from the Pripyat River, is still migrating into the Dnipr. The sources of river contamination includes places throughout the Chernobyl Zone where radioactive waste and contaminated equipment are buried. Many of these areas are periodically exposed to flooding, exacerbating the situation. Also found during the study were two open trenches containing radioactive waste, located at the partially-buried village Buriakovka.

The report also discussed the absence of fencing around portions of the Chernobyl Zone, which has made it easy for people to remove contaminated equipment from the area. Outside the Zone, these materials are sold as scrap.

The Ministry of Emergency Measures and the Ministry of Internal Affairs have been requested to correct these problems. Kornyakova said the current state of affairs represents a threat to the country.

Today is Blog Action Day, and this year's topic is the environment. In keeping with this theme, I want to discuss the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and it's current status.

It has been over 21 years since the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine. After the accident, an area within 30 kilometers of the plant was designated as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The area is still contaminated and considered unfit for human habitation.