Remedial policies in radiologically-contaminated forests: environmental consequences and risk assessment.

As a result of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in 1986, large forested areas in Europe were contaminated by radionuclides. Extensive societal pressure has been exerted to decrease the radiation dose to the population and to the environment. Thus, in making abatement and remediation policy decisions not only economic costs, but also human and environmental risk assessment are desired. Forest remediation by organic layer removal, one of the most promising cleanup policies, is considered in this paper. Ecological risk assessment requires evaluation of the radionuclide distribution in forests. The FORESTPATH model is used for predicting the radionuclide fate in forest compartments after deposition as well as for evaluating the application of the remedial policy. Time of intervention and radionuclide deposition profile was predicted as being crucial for the remediation efficiency. Risk assessment conducted for a critical group of forest users in Belarus shows that consumption of forest products (berries and mushrooms) leads to about 0.004% risk of a fatal cancer. Cost-benefit analysis for forest cleanup suggests that complete removal of organic layer is too expensive for application in Belarus.

A dynamic model for evaluating radionuclide distribution in forests from nuclear accidents.

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident in 1986 caused radionuclide contamination in most countries in Eastern and Western Europe. A prime example is Belarus where 23% of the total land area received chronic levels; about 1.5 x 10(6) ha of forested lands were contaminated with 40--190 kBq m-2 and 2.5 x 10(4) ha received greater than 1,480 kBq m-2 of 137Cs and other long-lived radionuclides such as 90Sr and 239,240Pu. Since the radiological dose to the forest ecosystem will tend to accumulate over long time periods (decades to centuries), we need to determine what countermeasures can be taken to limit this dose so that the affected regions can, once again, safely provide habitat and natural forest products. To address some of these problems, our initial objective is to formulate a generic model, FORESTPATH, which describes the major kinetic processes and pathways of radionuclide movement in forests and natural ecosystems and which can be used to predict future radionuclide concentrations. The model calculates the time-dependent radionuclide concentrations in different compartments of the forest ecosystem based on the information available on residence half-times in two forest types: coniferous and deciduous. The results show that the model reproduces well the radionuclide cycling pattern found in the literature for deciduous and coniferous forests. Variability analysis was used to access the relative importance of specific parameter values in the generic model performance. The FORESTPASTH model can be easily adjusted for site-specific applications.

Interactions of 57Co, 85Sr and 137Cs with peat under acidic precipitation conditions.

Following the burial of low-level wastes in nuclear waste repositories, the interactions of radionuclides with surrounding soil infiltrated by acid precipitation could cause radionuclide migration and transport into nearby wells. To evaluate this migration through organically rich soil in the unsaturated zone, we measured sorption and desorption distribution ratios (Rd) of 57Co, 85Sr and 137Cs onto peat at pH 4. Peat samples rich in organic C showed relatively higher sorption Rd values for 57Co and 85Sr compared to soil samples with less organic C. The sorption and desorption Rd values for these radionuclides are similar, indicating the reversibility of the sorption process. The measurements suggest the importance of organic complexes for the retention of these radionuclides at the pH range (pH 4), where hydrolysis of the metals is not important and sorption is expected to be low. Cesium-137, on the other hand, appears to be associated more strongly with inorganic components of the soil samples, with its Rd value significantly higher in the peat material containing less organic C. The 137Cs desorption Rd on the same peat sample is also comparable to the sorption Rd indicating equilibrium. Both the organic and inorganic components of peat are thus able to retard the migration of radionuclides which may be found in nuclear waste repositories. The design of such a repository may be improved using a peat barrier to restrict radionuclide migration.

Radioactive cesium from the Chernobyl accident in the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Measurements of cesium-134 and cesium-137 in Greenland snow together with models of long-range transport have been used to assess radionuclide deposition in the Arctic after the Chernobyl accident. The results suggest that a well-defined layer of radioactive cesium is now present in polar glaciers, providing a new reference for estimating snow accumulation rates and dating ice core samples.

Interactions of Escherichia coli and marine bacteria with 241Am in laboratory cultures.

In nutrient media, Escherichia coli and selected strains of marine facultative anaerobes accumulated significant amounts of the transuranic radioisotope 241Am. The pattern of uptake varied among strains and was dependent upon pH, culture media and growth stage of the population. Desorption of 241Am to montmorillonite was significantly less in filtered media from some bacterial cultures than in "unconditioned" control media, suggesting that bacterial exometabolites may form complexes with Am thereby increasing its solubility.