Fukushima University and University of Tsukuba investigated the surface flow of water flowing through the ground at the site of a forest fire around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine (then the Soviet Union), which caused a large-scale accident in 1986. It was revealed that the flow rate is about 2.7 times higher than that of the forest, and that the amount of radioactive substances contained in the surface current and moving is about 30 times higher.
According to the Japan Science and Technology Agency, the research team is collaborating with the Ukrainian Hydrometeorology Institute and the Chernobyl Ecological Center to release radioactive materials from surface currents at a large forest fire site about 2 km away from the center of the Chernobyl disaster. The amount was examined and compared with the surrounding area where there was no forest fire.
As a result, the outflow of radioactive materials was extremely large at the forest fire traces, and the outflow did not proceed in a state of being dissolved in water, but was in a state of adhering to fine soil particles floating in water. Do you get it.
Surface currents collected from forests that were not affected by the fire also contained radioactive material, but the amount was lower than the 1987 estimate.The research team believes that the radioactive material that existed on the surface of the earth in 1987 penetrated underground.
Since the location of the forest fire is far from the surrounding rivers, it is believed that radioactive materials did not flow directly into the rivers.However, since forest fires may occur around rivers, the research team plans to work with Ukrainian research institutes to study the impact assessment and countermeasures when radioactive substances flow into rivers.
Paper information:[Environmental Pollution] Impact of wildfire on 137Cs and 90Sr wash-off in heavily contaminated forests in the Chernobyl exclusion zone
