The Legacy of

CHERNOBYL
 Overview
 Introduction
 The Chernobyl Power Plant
 Environmental and Radioactive Waste Management
aspects of Chernobyl
 Health Effects and the Human Impact
 Effects on the Environment
 Bioremediation and Cleanup
 Where is Chernobyl?
In Northern Ukraine
-10 miles away
from Belarus
-80 miles North of Kiev

http://students.vassar.edu/mezegen/Eastern%20Europe%20Map.gif
http://studiohousebooks.co.uk/chernobyl/Chernobyl/chernobyl.html
 Introduction
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant is
located in the Ukraine South of the border
of Belarus

-Built to produce energy

- Consisted of four different units ; 1 and 2

being built between 1970 and 1977 and 3
and 4 by 1983.

-These four reactors were able to produce

1000 megawatts of electric power.

-Two reactors were under construction

when the explosions happened.

-Artificial lake built 22 square kilometers

away specifically to provide cooling water
for the reactors.
 Fission: Atom Splitting
-Fission is the splitting of a nucleus into several different
fragments known as fission products.
-The sum of these fragments is less then the previous weight;
according to Einstein’s equation, the missing mass is
converted into energy.
-Fission can occur spontaneously or by the nucleus of an atom
capturing a neutron
 Reactor Design
-RBMK-1000 was the design used that used slightly
enriched uranium dioxide fuel (2% U-235).
-Two loops bringing steam directly down into
turbines with no heat exchanger.
-Water acts as a coolant at the bottom of the fuel
channels and boils as it goes up the pressure tubes
allowing steam to be pumped to turbines making
them work.
-Moderator made of graphite. The function is to
slow down neutrons making them more efficient in
the production of fission in the fuel.
 RBMK-1000
-Oxidation prevented by using Nitrogen and Helium and
circulating them between graphite blocks

-Helped improve transmission of heat produced by the neutron

interactions in the graphite to the fuel channel.

-You don’t need to shut down the reactor to change fuel bundles
This is done by a specially made refueling machine.

-Four coolant pumps; one is always on standby.

-Control rods measure power or reactivity and lower fission rate

when introduced into moderator by absorbing neutrons.

-Power generated by by this reactor is 3200 megawatts thermal

RBMK-1000 Design
-One of the most important characteristics of this design is that
it has a ‘positive void coefficient’.

-‘Voids’ also known as steam bubbles increase as well as

core reactivity.

-Fuel channels; steam increases decreasing the amount of

neutrons being absorbed by the more dense water resulting in
an increase production of fission in the fuel.

-’Positive void coefficient’ depends on composition of the core

of the reactor. Chernobyl had one large enough to overwhelm
any other influences that would have any effect on the
coefficient.

-More recent reactors have ‘negative void coefficients’

 The Explosion
-April 25th,1986 before shutting down the crew at Chernobyl had to run
tests to determine how long turbines would spin and supply power to
main circulation pumps. This was done the year before but the
turbines ran too rapidly, therefore new voltage regulator designs were
to be tested.
- April 26th, 1986 at 1:23am two explosions occurred due to a flaw in
the design releasing 5% of the radioactive core.
-Increase in pressure along with very hot fuel reacting with cool water
caused fuel fragmentation and rapid steam production.
- Design was built in a way that if 3 or 4 assemblies had substantial
damage that it could destroy the reactor.
- Increase in pressure lead to 1000 tonne plate being partially
detached rupturing fuel channels and jamming control rods.
-Steam spread over the core causing a steam explosion releasing
fission products into the atmosphere.
-Helicopters flew over after the first day and injected 200-
300 tonnes per hour into the intact reactor.

-This was stopped due to the fear of flooding units 1 and 2.

-From the second to the tenth day close to 5000 tonnes of

Boron, clay, sand, Dolomite and lead were dropped by
helicopters onto the burning core.

-This was done in order to try and extinguish the fire and
limit the release of radioactive particles.
 Environmental and Radioactive Waste
Management aspects of Chernobyl
• The destruction of the unit 4 reactor created radioactive
contamination and radio active waste in the unit, Chernobyl and the
surrounding area. The site of the explosion is now referred to a CEZ.
Development of this area would require conversion of unit 4 in to
an ecologically safe system.
 Burn Chernobyl Burn
• First measure of action taken
after the explosion was to
control the fire and
radionuclide released by
dumping neutron absorbing
compounds and fire control
material into the crater. The
total amount dumped on the
site was around 5000t, which
consisted of around 40t of
boron compounds, 2400t of
lead, 1800t of sand and clay
and 600t of dolomite as well
as sodium phosphate and
polymer liquids.
Radioactive Waste
• Thousands of cubic metres of
radioactive waste created after
the destruction of the reactor.
The debris was collected and
disposed of in the pioneer wall
and the cascade wall. The
walls constructed around the
site reduced radiation dose
rates by a factor of 10-20. The
construction of these walls
allowed for the construction of
the shelter.
 Shelter
• The shelter has approximately 100m2
of openings in its surface.
• The water is contaminated with such
elements as 137Cs, 90 Sr and
transuranic elements
• 2100m3/a of the collected water
evaporates and about 1300m3/a
leaks through the foundation into the
soil beneath
• The Chernobyl nuclear power plant
waste management system is not
capable of treating liquid radioactive
waste that contains transuranic
elements.
 The conditions inside the unit 4 present major risk and hazards
to workers and the environment. General area radiation dose
rates range from 2 μSv/h to 0.1 Sv/h inside the shelter. Workers
are check to not exceed the limit dose rate are of 20mSv/h.

Ventilation of unit 4 is through a monitored exhaust above the reactor room. Unfiltered
exhaust is normally below the permitted limits for atmospheric discharge limits. The
ventilation is zoned so that air from outside the shelter flows through spaces with increasing
levels of contamination.
 Improvements
• Improvements on the shelter have been done over the
years to try and stabilize and improve the conditions.
Some of these repairs included repair of unit 3 and 4
ventilation stack foundation and reinforcement of the B1
and B2 beams; improvements of the physical protection
and access control system; modernization of the dust
suppression system. Computerized systems were
installed in the shelter to monitor gamma radiation,
neutron flux, temperature, heat flux, concentrations of
hydrogen, carbon oxide and air moisture.
 FCM = fuel containing mass
• 20 years later penetrated the concrete walls, floors and
ceilings and is now in the air in the form of aerosols
• The fuel containing dust has now become the main
source of radiation hazard.
 Monday, September 17, 2007
• NSC is planned to be built as a cover over
the existing shelter
• provide over 100 years of service life
• reduce consequences of a shelter
collapse
• improve nuclear safety
• convert unit 4 into and environmentally
safe site
• allow further dismantlement
• removal of FCM from the unit 4
• The principle design of the NSC is based
on the current plans for removal of FCM
that depend on the availability of final
geological disposal facility about 50 years
from now
Human Exposure
 To Be Classified as a ‘Chernobyl Victim’:
• Have fallen ill with radiation sickness or became an invalid
due to the consequences of the accident
• Took part in the clean-up activities on the Chernobyl site and
in the evacuation zones in the years 1986 to 1989
• Continue to live in areas designated as ‘contaminated’
• Evacuated, re-settled or left an affected areas on your own
initiative
 Exposure Pathways
• External dose from cloud passage
• Internal dose from inhalation during cloud
passage and re-suspension of particulate
matter
• External dose from radionuclides deposited
upon soil and other surfaces
• Internal dose from the consumption of
contaminated food and water
 Immediate Response to the Accident:
1986 - 1991
• Evacuation of Exclusion Zone which extended 30 km
around the Chernobyl plant; later on, the criteria for
evacuation would change to be based on the density of
contamination by the radioactive isotope caesium-137
• Washing building and streets; removal of top soil;
removal of contaminated equipment
• Concealment of reactor
• Water Management
• Land use restrictions to prevent the migration of
radionuclides from the soil to food
• Compensation of victims and continual support
Restructuring Programs: 1991 and onward

• Rebuilding infrastructure
• Supplying natural gas to the population
• Victim benefits
– Health care, housing, travel, tax exemptions,
university access, property compensation,
allowance, ‘Health Improvement Holidays’
 Measuring Exposure
• Threshold dose for humans is 1 mSv
– Lifetime exposure cannot exceed 70 mSv
• Difficult to measure individual exposure
– Too many uncertainties and assumptions about
the dose must be made
• Contamination is measured per square
kilometre rather than an individual dose
 Health Problems After the
Accident
• Thyroid Cancer – 5000 cases
– Young children and adolescents at time of
accident report large increase in incidence
– Due to release of radioactive iodine-131
• Half-life = 8 days
– Made worse by iodine-deficient diets
– Intense medical monitoring
– Drinking contaminated milk is believed to have
been the cause of many cases
 Leukemia and non-thyroid solid cancers

• Doubling of incidence of leukemia among

liquidators
• Other than liquidators, there is no evidence of
an increase in cancer associated with the
accident
• It should be noted that any small increase
would be difficult to observe
 Mortality
• 134 liquidators were diagnosed with ARS; 28
of them died in 1986
• Up to 4000 cancer cases can be attributed
directly to Chernobyl
• Survivor deaths in later years can not
necessarily be attributed to radiation
exposure
 Cardiovascular Disease

• Increased incidence among liquidators

• Mental Health
– High levels of stress, anxiety, worry, confusion,
unexplained physical symptoms, alcohol and tobacco
abuse, eating of contaminated foodstuffs
• Reproductive and Hereditary Effects
– No effects on: fertility, stillbirth numbers, congenital
malformations, pregnancy complications
– Reported increases in congenital malformations in
Belarus related to improved reporting methods
 Chernobyl
Nuclear disaster

Effects on
the Environment
 Environmental issues indifferent Zones affected by the Chernobyl Accident
Ci/km2 The nature of environmental issues Major state policies
Radiation does not pose serious health risks to any particular group. Economic
1 to 5 activities may be hindered by indirect association with Chernobyl. Additional
radiation monitoring. Extended social protection of the population.
Radiation may pose risks to small high risk groups. Economic activities
hindered by Chernobyl name and contamination of some products. Local
5 to 15
capacity undermined by outmigration of skilled people. Radiation monitoring.
Social protection. Countermeasures in agriculture
Radiation may pose risks to small high risk groups while average individual
doses more often exceed legal limits. Economic activities hindered by frequent
contamination of products, association with Chernobyl, restrictions on
15 to 40 forestry, agriculture and other activities. Local capacity suffers severely from
socio-economic decline Resettlement. Radiation monitoring. Social protection.
Counter measures in agriculture and forestry. Forest and water resource
management
Risk of forest and peat bog fires threatening radioactive contamination of
Exclusion larger areas. Security of waste disposal sites and abandoned villages Forest
Zone and water resources management. Restrict access. Research on migration and
effects of radiation.
 West and
Northwest Winds
carried radiation

http://www.ki4u.com/potassium-iodide.htm http://www.metoffice.com/environment/serv4.html
 Arctic Contamination
The low-altitude cloud of the
Chernobyl fallout was first
carried over Scandinavia to
Green- land and reached Canada
in the areas of Baffin Island.
• Western Canada, including
northern Alberta were
contaminated by fallout from
 Deposition of fallout in the Arctic linked to Foodweb
contamination relied upon by Northern peoples
Post-Chernobyl 134Cs and 137Cs Levels at Some Localities in Northern Canada
(H.W. TAYLOR (1988) ARCTIC VOL. 41, NO. 4 (DECEMBER 1988) P. 293-296
• Samples of lichen, moss and caribou meat from the high and central arctic
regions of Canada were measured for 137Cs due to the Chernobyl accident of
April 1986.
• Lichens from the central Arctic showed a 137Cs increase of about 14% above
the persistent burden from the past atmospheric nuclear weapons testing.
Mosses and lichens from Wood Buffalo National Park showed an average 137C
increase of 19% due to Chernobyl fallout.

wind currents reaching North • When the mosses/lichens of the Arctic that have taken up this radioactive
America from the northwest. material are eaten by the caribou as food source, widespread
contamination of the food chain occurs

In absolute terms, the

contribution of Chernobyl fallout
over Canadian northern regions
was not significant compared to
the depositions experienced by
countries such as the U.S.S.R.,
Sweden, Norway and some
Central European countries.
 Immediate Impact
• 203 people were
hospitalized immediately.
31 of them eventually
died. Most of these people
were workers in the plant
or local firefighters.

• NW winds from the Black

Sea carried the radiation
for miles in the following
days. Scandinavian
detectors picked up on the
abundance of radiation,
but the Soviet government
denied everything.

http://www.cmc.ec.gc.ca/~arqidor/ctbto/ctbt3.html
 Radionuclide transfer into the
Terrestrial Environment
• Radioactive elements behave differently in the environment; some, such as caesium, iodine
and strontium
• Environmentally mobile and transfer readily, under certain environmental conditions, to
foodstuffs. In contrast, radionuclides with low solubility, such as the actinides, are relatively
immobile and largely remain in the soil.
• Many factors influence the extent to which radionuclides are transferred through terrestrial
pathways.
• High levels of transfer in a particular environment is radioecologically sensitive, because
such transfer can lead to relatively high radiological exposure
• Of the radionuclides deposited after the Chernobyl accident, during the short initial phase
(zero to two months) those of iodine (131I) were the most important with regard to human
exposure via agricultural food chains.
• In the longer term, radio- caesium(137Cs) has been the most important and, to a much lesser
extent, radiostrontium(90Sr).
• The main routes for the cycling of radionuclides and the possible pathways to humans are
shown in next slide
 SHOWS THE EFFECT OF SOILS ON
BIOAVAILABILITY OF RADIONUCLIDES
 Radionuclide migration within Soil
• Vertical migration migration down the soil column can be
caused by convection, dispersion, diffusion and biological mixing.
• This movement into the soil makes it available for plant uptake.
Rate of movement will vary with soil type and physiochemical
form.
• As both predominant radionuclides have migrated, they have
concentrated within the rooting zone of plants.
• It has been established that at such sites where contamination
occurred through atmospheric deposition, there was low risk of
migration into groundwater.
• It instead becomes concentrated within the surrounding plant
biomass via bioabsorption through the roots of localized plants.
 FALLOUT SPREAD
• The radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident
contaminated large territories in all three countries affecting
life in rural communities for decades to come.
• Agriculture and forestry are forbidden in wide areas.
• Poverty forces many people to eat contaminated berries,
mushrooms, game and fish, to feed contaminated hay to their
cattle and to burn radioactively contaminated firewood in
their stoves.
• Many of those living in the affected areas are ignorant of the
risks that they face, or have adopted an apathetic and
fatalistic attitude.
 Effects on Agriculture
• Initially, interception on plant leaves of dry deposition and atmospheric
washout with precipitation were the main mechanisms by which
vegetation became contaminated. In the medium and long term, root
uptake predominated.
• Leafy vegetables were contaminated on their surfaces and made a
significant contribution to the radiation dose to humans via the food chain
• In the initial phase, 131I was the radionuclide of most concern and milk was
the main contributor to internal dose. This is because radioiodine was
released in large amounts and intercepted by plant surfaces being grazed
by dairy cows. The ingested radioiodine was completely absorbed in the
gut of the cow and then rapidly transferred to the animal’s thyroid and
milk (within about one day).
• During this period, in the former USSR and some other European
countries, 131I activity concentrations in milk exceeded the national and
regional (European Union (EU)) action levels of a few hundred to a few
thousand becquerels per litre
SPREAD THROUGH AQUATIC
SYSTEMS
• Radioactive material from Chernobyl affected surface water
systems in many parts of Europe. The majority of the
radioactive fallout, however, was deposited in the catchment
of the Pripyat River, which forms an important component of
the Dnieper River–reservoir system, one of the larger surface
water systems in Europe.

• After the accident, therefore, there was particular concern

over contamination of the water supply for the area along
the Dnieper cascade of reservoirs covering a distance of
approximately 1000 km to the Black Sea.

• Other large river systems in Europe, such as the Rhine and

Danube, were also affected by fallout, although the
contamination levels in those rivers were not radiologically
significant
 Aquatic Ecosystems
Lakes and reservoirs were contaminated by fallout on the water surface and by
transfers of radionuclides from the surrounding catchment areas.
• Radionuclide concentrations in water declined rapidly in reservoirs and in those lakes
with significant inflow and outflow of water (open lake systems).
– In some cases, activity concentrations of radiocaesium in lakes remained relatively high due to runoff
from organic soils in the catchment.
– Initially, radiocesium concentration declined rapidly in the first few weeks to months after the fallout.
This was followed by a much slower decline over a period of yearsas it becasme strongly adsorbed to
soil and lake sediments
• Internal cycling of radio- caesium in closed lake systems (i.e. lakes with little inflow
and outflow of water) led to much higher activity concentrations in their water and
aquatic biota than were typically seen in open lakes and rivers.
– In some lakes in Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine these problems have continued to the
present day and may continue for the foreseeable future.
• Bioaccumulation of radionuclides (ie/radiocaesium) in fish resulted in activity
concentrations significantly above the permissible levels for consumption (both in the
most affected regions and in western Europe.
– Freshwater fish provide an important source of food for many inhabitants of the contaminated regions.
In the Dnieper cascade in Ukraine, commercial fisheries still catch more than 20 000 t of fish per year.
 PROBLEMS:
1.Undesirable mutations in fish, wildlife
and livestock
2.Compromised foodsource
3.Lost economic opportunity
4.Tainted water source for million of
people
5.Long term contamination of the natural
environment
6.Destroyed Livelihoods
7.Innocent Victims
 Opportunities for Bioremediation
• Treatment strategies for both soil and water usually involve
one of two methods:

– Removing chemical materials from the contaminated site to another

location for treatment, an approach known as ex situ bioremediation
– Cleaning up at the contaminated site without excavation or removal
called in situ bioremediation

• In situ bioremediation is often the preferred method of

bioremediation in part because it is usually less expensive
than ex situ approaches
 Soil Clean-Up
• In situ approaches rely on
stimulating microorganisms in the
contaminated soil or water

• Those in situ approaches that

require aerobic degradation
methods often involve bioventing
– Pumping either air or hydrogen
peroxide (H2O2) into the
contaminated soil

• Fertilizers may also be added to

the soil through bioventing
– To stimulate the growth and
degrading activities of indigenous
bacteria
http://ww.melltd.com/fs.htm
 Soil Clean-Up
• For some soil clean-up sites, ex situ bioremediation
can be faster and more effective than in situ
approaches.

• There are two common ex situ techniques:

– Slurry-phase bioremediation

– Solid­phase bioremediation
• composting
• landfarming
• biopiles
 Phytoremediation
• Although bacteria are involved in most
bioremediation strategies
– A growing number of approaches are utilizing plants to
clean up chemicals in the soil, water, and air in an
approach called phytoremediation

• Cottonwood, poplar, and juniper trees have all been

successfully used in phytoremediation
– As have certain grasses and alfalfa
 Phytoremediation
• Sunflower plants effectively removed
radioactive cesium and strontium from
ponds at the Chernobyl nuclear power
plant in the Ukraine

• In other cases, the chemical

concentrates in the plant cells so that
the entire plant serves as a type of
"plant sponge"
sponge for mopping up
pollutants

• The contaminated plants are treated as

waste
– May be burned or disposed of in other
ways
 POST-DISASTER PRECAUTIONS
• People must change their clothes twice a day, and
may not walk in the woods for more than two hours
a month.
• Radiation level charts are printed in the newspapers
and dictate decisions such as whether children can
be allowed out to play.
• People are told to wash food at least five times in
clean water, but nobody is told where this clean
water is to be found.
• Cattle are not supposed to graze in areas where the
grass is less than 10cm high so their mouths will not
touch the earth.
• Most people find it impossible to follow these nearly
impossible instructions, so they simply give up
trying.
VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvAJ_u3Q0Hw&feature=related

REFERENCES
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/chernobyl/inf07.html
http://environment.about.com/od/chernobyl/p/chernobyl.htm
http://www.atomicarchive.com/Fission/Fission1.shtml

Environmental Consequences of the Chernobyl Accident and their Remediation: Twenty Years
of Experience (2006) IEAE
-Comprehensive Radiological Asessment Report

-H.W. TAYLOR,' J. SVOBODA,' G.H.R. HENRY3 and ROSS W. WEIN4 Post-Chernobyl 134Cs and
137Cs Levels at Some Localities in Northern Canada (1988)

Chernobyl’s Legacy: Health, Environmental and Socio-economic Impacts

(2005) Chernobyl Forum

The Human Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident A Strategy for Recovery----
(2002) Issued by UNDP and UNICEF