Chernobyl radionuclide distribution and migration.

The accident at Unit No. 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on 26 April 1986 presented severe challenges in radiation protection. Early activity measurements defined the contaminated areas in order to determine what persons should be evacuated on the basis of the exposure limit at that time of 100 mSv (10 rem) for accidents. The immediate definition of these areas was accomplished with specially equipped aircraft capable of measuring external gamma-exposure rate and radionuclide spectra. Over time, maps of 137Cs contamination (the most important long-lived radionuclide) have become more and more sophisticated and have been used for further determinations of the control of the consequences of the accident. About 70% of the total release of 137Cs was deposited in Belarus, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine; but there was also widespread deposition throughout the countries of Western Europe. Two atlases of contamination throughout Europe were prepared, and the Russian atlas included data on other radionuclides and on external gamma-exposure rates. The radiocesiums behaved as volatile radionuclides because of the volatility of cesium. In contrast to the typical pattern after nuclear weapons tests, 90Sr behaved only as a refractory element, as its volatile precursors krypton and rubidium had already decayed within the reactor. Nearly all of the refractory elements (strontium, plutonium, etc.) released by the accident were confined to the 30-km zone around the reactor. A proposal is made to develop a more complete atlas of 137Cs deposition from the accident that would include the entire Northern Hemisphere. Water was not an important vector of exposure to human beings following the accident.