Investigation of Radionuclide Migration at Sites Adjacent to the 30-km Exclusion Zone of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

Abstract

This paper reports the study of the vertical migration of radionuclides in soils at test sites adjacent to the 30-km Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The results of this effort demonstrate that the migration processes for studied pollution occur similarly to the fuel fallout behavior at the vicinity of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (ChNPP) Unit 4. It was also observed that the main fallout component, ¹³⁷Cs, originated from aerosol fallout and was bound in the surface layer. The authors determined a significant increase of ⁶⁰Co, ⁹⁴Nb, and ²⁴¹Am radionuclide concentrations in soils near the ChNPP Unit 4 and suggested their appearance due to the installation of the New Safe Confinement. Niobium-94 activity is proposed as a marker for monitoring the “fresh” fallout in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.