The Dnieper River headwaters are in Russia’s Valdai Hills and the river flows south to the Black Sea. The Dnieper River provides a waterway in which to transport goods to and from various European nations. In additio...The Dnieper River headwaters are in Russia’s Valdai Hills and the river flows south to the Black Sea. The Dnieper River provides a waterway in which to transport goods to and from various European nations. In addition, the dams on the river provide hydro power. There are approximately 2260 km of Dnieper waterways in Russia, in Belarus, and within Ukraine. The Dnieper River has numerous urban centers including Smolensk in Russia, Mogilev in Belarus and Kiev and Zaporizhzhya in Ukraine. The worst nuclear accident in history unfolded, in the Dnieper River watershed, in northern Ukraine as a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded and burned. After an accident, such as Chernobyl, radionuclide contaminated bodies of water via direct deposition from the air, discharge as effluent or indirectly from catchment basin washout. When radionuclides contaminate large bodies of water, they are quickly dispersing and accumulate in water bottom sediments, benthos, aquatic plants, and bottom feeding fish. The main pathways to humans are through contamination of drinking-water, from use of water for irrigation of food crops, and consumption of contaminated fish. Kakhovka Dam on the Dnieper River was destroyed during the Russian-Ukraine conflict and the dam needs to rebuild as soon as possible. Perhaps lessons learned by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), after using TNT to blow up the Birds Point front line levee on the Mississippi River in May of 2011, can be applied to the man-induced 2023 Kakhovka Dam breach. The Birds Point man-induced levee breaches and subsequent flooding of farmland resulted in the loss of the 2011 crops and damaged the future soil productivity. The strong current and sweep of the water through the three man-induced levee breaches on the New Madrid floodway levee created deep gullies, displaced tons of soil, and damaged irrigation equipment, farms, and homes. The New Madrid floodway agricultural lands were restored, and the environmental damages were mitigated. The Kakhovka Dam destruction caused widespread flooding which affected settlements and farmland across the Dnieper watershed. The presence and breach-induced redistribution of Chernobyl-derived nuclides is an additional condition not present at the New Madrid man-induced levee breach. Four canal networks have become disconnected from the feeder reservoir. The canals were the source of drinking water for 700,000 people living in southern Ukraine. The Kakhovka canals also provided irrigation for vast areas of farmland. The water loss from the canals adversely affected food production in the region. The primary objectives of this paper are to assess lessons learned by the USACE and apply them in Ukraine to help restore and manage the Dnieper lifeline and watershed.展开更多
We review 20 year long investigations by the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology on radioecological and ecological consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe for wild animals in the Exclusion Zone （EZ） around the nucle...We review 20 year long investigations by the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology on radioecological and ecological consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe for wild animals in the Exclusion Zone （EZ） around the nuclear plant. Using previous observations on bird migrations through Ukraine, we assessed the 137^Cs and 90^Sr carry-out with migrants from the EZ. In addition, we selected animal species as standard indicators of the state of the environment to map ： 1 ） contamination of vertebrates with 137^Cs in the EZ and 2） beta-activity of mollusc shells indicating 90^Sr, in the whole Dnieper drainage area, in the Kiev Administrative Region, and in the EZ. We revealed regular seasonal and long-term trends, relative radionuclide accumulation by different species, transfer and accumulation factors, and used these measurements to diminish the enormous variation and complexity of the data. Secondary ecological changes in forest, devastated by direct irradiation, were caused by the crash of trophic chains and an outbreak of insect pests on dead or sick trees. Ninety-nine percent of the EZ area was not affected directly by irradiation. Ecological changes in this area have been caused by evacuation of the public, cessation of agriculture and forest management, and decontamination on a large scale. After initial changes, animal density and distribution have been stabilized at a limit restricted by natural resources, predators and poachers. A herd of Przewalski horses was successfully introduced into the EZ years ago. We renewed the protected state of nature reserved sites, which existed before, and proposed to expand the area of nature reservation.展开更多
To estimate the internal dose of a Chinese visiting scholar internally contaminated because of the Cherno- byl Accident, the contents of 134Cs and 137Cs in urine were measured using a Ge(Li) γ-spectrometer. The inter...To estimate the internal dose of a Chinese visiting scholar internally contaminated because of the Cherno- byl Accident, the contents of 134Cs and 137Cs in urine were measured using a Ge(Li) γ-spectrometer. The internal doses were calculated based on data from the ICRP Publications. The effective doses from 134Cs and 137Cs were estimated to be 61 μSv and 98 μ Sv, respectively. The sum of 159 μSv was lower than the total effective dose (310 μSv), from the inhalation and ingestion of natural radionuclides. The dose of 131I was also reviewed referring to the UNSCEAR 2000 Report. The equivalent effective dose of 131I was estimated to be 2.9 mSv, 18 times more than the amount of 134Cs and 137Cs. Therefore, it is considered that the earlier estimation of internal doses of 131I is important in evaluating radiation injuries from a nuclear reactor accident.展开更多
Agricultural land use in the area of the post-Chemobyl Plavsk radioactive hotspot (Tula region,Central Russia) has raised a problem of radioecological safety of obtained plant foodstuff.Verification of 137Cs activitie...Agricultural land use in the area of the post-Chemobyl Plavsk radioactive hotspot (Tula region,Central Russia) has raised a problem of radioecological safety of obtained plant foodstuff.Verification of 137Cs activities and inventories in components of 'soil-plant' systems of the territory has been conducted in 2014-2017 in 10 agrosystems and 2 semi-natural meadows.It was revealed that density of 137Cs contamination of arable chernozems and alluvial calcareous soils nowadays varies in a range 140-220 kBq/m2 and exceeds radiation safety standard by^3.5-6 times.Deep plowing of the arable soils up to 30-cm in 1986-1987 resulted in decreasing of 137Cs inventories in rooting zone by ≈ 70% for crops cultivated with shallow disk plowing (wheat,barley),and by ≈ 35% for crops cultivated with middle plowing (buckwheat,amaranth,white mustard).The investigated plants and their compartments can be grouped on the basis of transfer factor values as follows:maize (stems and leaves)> amaranth> bromegrass > vegetation of dry meadow,galega,sunflower (seeds),vegetation of wet meadow > maize (grain),soybean (pods),barley (grain),buckwheat (grain),potatoes (tubers)> white mustard (seeds),wheat (grain).It is noticeable that generative plant compartments are characterized by less 137Cs activities in comparison with stems and leaves;and that 137Cs root uptake is not coincide with total flux of mineral nutrients in 'soil-plant' systems.In sum,137Cs soil-to-plant transfer in the area of the Plavsk radioactive hotspot is characterized by considerable discrimination,so 137Cs activities in plants are completely in accordance with national standards.展开更多
The total activity variation with depth from a 41.6 m Muztagata ice core drilled at 7010 m, recorded not only the 1963 radioactive layer due to the thermonuclear test, but also clearly the radioactive peak released by...The total activity variation with depth from a 41.6 m Muztagata ice core drilled at 7010 m, recorded not only the 1963 radioactive layer due to the thermonuclear test, but also clearly the radioactive peak released by the Chernobyl accident in 1986. This finding indicates that the Chernobyl nuclear accident was clearly recorded in alpine glaciers in the Pamirs of west China, and the layer can be potentially used for ice core dating in other high alpine glaciers in the surrounding regions.展开更多
The comparative study of technogenic ^(90)Sr behavior features in Crimea lakes’ ecosystems with different levels of salinity was carried out in 2016-2021.Two sources of ^(90)Sr input were identified for all the studi...The comparative study of technogenic ^(90)Sr behavior features in Crimea lakes’ ecosystems with different levels of salinity was carried out in 2016-2021.Two sources of ^(90)Sr input were identified for all the studied lakes:the primary source concerned with atmospheric fallout immediately after the Chernobyl NPP accident and the secondary long-term input of this radionuclide by waterway.The half-life of the ^(90)Sr concentration in the water of the hypers aline Lake Sasyk-Sivash was estimated to vary from 0.8 to 1.1 years after the closure of the North Crimean Canal(NCC).Biogeochemical processes in the lake under the absence of the secondary source of the radionuclide input were shown to decrease in the ^(90)Sr residence time in the water column by 131 times.For brackish water bodies,a significant factor influencing the radionuclide concentration in ecosystems of lakes was the pH of their water,while for hypers aline lakes the level of water salinity was the main factor determining ^(90)Sr behavior.The concentration of ^(90)Sr in bottom sediments of studied lakes depended mainly on this radionuclide concentration in a water environment.Calculated ^(90)Sr distribution factors(Kd) for studied lakes’ bottom sediments varied in a range of n·10^(0)÷n·10^(2) for hypersaline lakes and of n·10^(1)÷n·10^(2) for lakes with brackish waters.Due to the closure of the NCC,the ^(90)Sr redistribution took place in lake ecosystems only under the geochemical processes within the water bodies themselves.The results obtained in this work are of particular importance as a starting point or a basis for further radioecological studies of the Crimean inland waters after the reopening of the NCC and the Dnieper waters re-entering the territory of Crimea in 2022after the 8 years of their absence.展开更多
Investigations of ^(239+240)Pu and ^(238)Pu in the surface layer(0–5 cm) of bottom sediment in the Crimean 10 salt lakes from 4 geographical groups were carried out for the first time. The ^(239+240)Pu varied widely ...Investigations of ^(239+240)Pu and ^(238)Pu in the surface layer(0–5 cm) of bottom sediment in the Crimean 10 salt lakes from 4 geographical groups were carried out for the first time. The ^(239+240)Pu varied widely between regional geographical groups of lakes as well as within groups too and ranged from 11±4 to 451±43 mBq^(239+240)Pu/kg. The highest levels of ^(239+240)Pu—419±27, 443±24 and 451±43 mBq/kg were observed in the Yevpatoriya(Lake Kyzyl-Yar), the Tarkhankut(Dzharylhach) and the Kerch group(Tobechik), respectively. The lowest values of ^(239+240)Pu were identified in three lakes of the Perekop group and were 20±12, 24±6 and 48±6 mBq/kg. In all lakes ^(238)Pu was an order of magnitude lower than 239+240 Pu and varied from 4.8±2.6 to 30.7±5.5 mBq/kg. The ^(238)Pu activity was decay-corrected to 1986. The characteristic ratio of the ^(238)Pu/239+240 Pu activities in the sediment and percentage of the Chernobyl-derived Pu was calculated. The largest percentages of the Chernobyl-derived Pu were observed in the Evpatoriya group(Lake SasykSivash)—16.2%±8.26%, the Tarkhankut group(Dzharylhach)—8.4%±2.10% and the Kerch group(Aktash)—10.5%±5.56%. The study of the depth distribution of plutonium in the Lake Kyzyl-Yar bottom sediment core(0–25 cm) was fulfilled. It was shown that 239+240 Pu was high enough in all studied layers of bottom sediment, but the highest activity ratio ^(238)Pu/239+240 Pu(0.062±0.020) was found in the deepest layer of 15–20.5 cm and the percentage of Chernobyl-derived Pu was estimated at 6.8%±2.85% in this layer.展开更多
文摘The Dnieper River headwaters are in Russia’s Valdai Hills and the river flows south to the Black Sea. The Dnieper River provides a waterway in which to transport goods to and from various European nations. In addition, the dams on the river provide hydro power. There are approximately 2260 km of Dnieper waterways in Russia, in Belarus, and within Ukraine. The Dnieper River has numerous urban centers including Smolensk in Russia, Mogilev in Belarus and Kiev and Zaporizhzhya in Ukraine. The worst nuclear accident in history unfolded, in the Dnieper River watershed, in northern Ukraine as a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded and burned. After an accident, such as Chernobyl, radionuclide contaminated bodies of water via direct deposition from the air, discharge as effluent or indirectly from catchment basin washout. When radionuclides contaminate large bodies of water, they are quickly dispersing and accumulate in water bottom sediments, benthos, aquatic plants, and bottom feeding fish. The main pathways to humans are through contamination of drinking-water, from use of water for irrigation of food crops, and consumption of contaminated fish. Kakhovka Dam on the Dnieper River was destroyed during the Russian-Ukraine conflict and the dam needs to rebuild as soon as possible. Perhaps lessons learned by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), after using TNT to blow up the Birds Point front line levee on the Mississippi River in May of 2011, can be applied to the man-induced 2023 Kakhovka Dam breach. The Birds Point man-induced levee breaches and subsequent flooding of farmland resulted in the loss of the 2011 crops and damaged the future soil productivity. The strong current and sweep of the water through the three man-induced levee breaches on the New Madrid floodway levee created deep gullies, displaced tons of soil, and damaged irrigation equipment, farms, and homes. The New Madrid floodway agricultural lands were restored, and the environmental damages were mitigated. The Kakhovka Dam destruction caused widespread flooding which affected settlements and farmland across the Dnieper watershed. The presence and breach-induced redistribution of Chernobyl-derived nuclides is an additional condition not present at the New Madrid man-induced levee breach. Four canal networks have become disconnected from the feeder reservoir. The canals were the source of drinking water for 700,000 people living in southern Ukraine. The Kakhovka canals also provided irrigation for vast areas of farmland. The water loss from the canals adversely affected food production in the region. The primary objectives of this paper are to assess lessons learned by the USACE and apply them in Ukraine to help restore and manage the Dnieper lifeline and watershed.
文摘We review 20 year long investigations by the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology on radioecological and ecological consequences of the Chernobyl catastrophe for wild animals in the Exclusion Zone （EZ） around the nuclear plant. Using previous observations on bird migrations through Ukraine, we assessed the 137^Cs and 90^Sr carry-out with migrants from the EZ. In addition, we selected animal species as standard indicators of the state of the environment to map ： 1 ） contamination of vertebrates with 137^Cs in the EZ and 2） beta-activity of mollusc shells indicating 90^Sr, in the whole Dnieper drainage area, in the Kiev Administrative Region, and in the EZ. We revealed regular seasonal and long-term trends, relative radionuclide accumulation by different species, transfer and accumulation factors, and used these measurements to diminish the enormous variation and complexity of the data. Secondary ecological changes in forest, devastated by direct irradiation, were caused by the crash of trophic chains and an outbreak of insect pests on dead or sick trees. Ninety-nine percent of the EZ area was not affected directly by irradiation. Ecological changes in this area have been caused by evacuation of the public, cessation of agriculture and forest management, and decontamination on a large scale. After initial changes, animal density and distribution have been stabilized at a limit restricted by natural resources, predators and poachers. A herd of Przewalski horses was successfully introduced into the EZ years ago. We renewed the protected state of nature reserved sites, which existed before, and proposed to expand the area of nature reservation.
基金Partially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.30370442).
文摘To estimate the internal dose of a Chinese visiting scholar internally contaminated because of the Cherno- byl Accident, the contents of 134Cs and 137Cs in urine were measured using a Ge(Li) γ-spectrometer. The internal doses were calculated based on data from the ICRP Publications. The effective doses from 134Cs and 137Cs were estimated to be 61 μSv and 98 μ Sv, respectively. The sum of 159 μSv was lower than the total effective dose (310 μSv), from the inhalation and ingestion of natural radionuclides. The dose of 131I was also reviewed referring to the UNSCEAR 2000 Report. The equivalent effective dose of 131I was estimated to be 2.9 mSv, 18 times more than the amount of 134Cs and 137Cs. Therefore, it is considered that the earlier estimation of internal doses of 131I is important in evaluating radiation injuries from a nuclear reactor accident.
文摘Agricultural land use in the area of the post-Chemobyl Plavsk radioactive hotspot (Tula region,Central Russia) has raised a problem of radioecological safety of obtained plant foodstuff.Verification of 137Cs activities and inventories in components of 'soil-plant' systems of the territory has been conducted in 2014-2017 in 10 agrosystems and 2 semi-natural meadows.It was revealed that density of 137Cs contamination of arable chernozems and alluvial calcareous soils nowadays varies in a range 140-220 kBq/m2 and exceeds radiation safety standard by^3.5-6 times.Deep plowing of the arable soils up to 30-cm in 1986-1987 resulted in decreasing of 137Cs inventories in rooting zone by ≈ 70% for crops cultivated with shallow disk plowing (wheat,barley),and by ≈ 35% for crops cultivated with middle plowing (buckwheat,amaranth,white mustard).The investigated plants and their compartments can be grouped on the basis of transfer factor values as follows:maize (stems and leaves)> amaranth> bromegrass > vegetation of dry meadow,galega,sunflower (seeds),vegetation of wet meadow > maize (grain),soybean (pods),barley (grain),buckwheat (grain),potatoes (tubers)> white mustard (seeds),wheat (grain).It is noticeable that generative plant compartments are characterized by less 137Cs activities in comparison with stems and leaves;and that 137Cs root uptake is not coincide with total flux of mineral nutrients in 'soil-plant' systems.In sum,137Cs soil-to-plant transfer in the area of the Plavsk radioactive hotspot is characterized by considerable discrimination,so 137Cs activities in plants are completely in accordance with national standards.
基金Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2005CB422002)the Innovation Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KZCX3-SW-339)+1 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 40121101 and 40571039)the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No. 2001CCB00300)
文摘The total activity variation with depth from a 41.6 m Muztagata ice core drilled at 7010 m, recorded not only the 1963 radioactive layer due to the thermonuclear test, but also clearly the radioactive peak released by the Chernobyl accident in 1986. This finding indicates that the Chernobyl nuclear accident was clearly recorded in alpine glaciers in the Pamirs of west China, and the layer can be potentially used for ice core dating in other high alpine glaciers in the surrounding regions.
基金Scientific research on salt and brackish water lakes was supported by the Russian Science Foundation,with grant No.18-16-00001Development of biological and geochemical foundations for the development of aquaculture in hypersaline lakes and lagoons of Crimea,2021-2022Comparative studies on the Black Sea were carried out within the framework of the State Assignment for the IBSS,Molismological and biogeochemical foundations of the homeostasis of marine ecosystems,with State registration number of the state assignment 121031500515-8。
文摘The comparative study of technogenic ^(90)Sr behavior features in Crimea lakes’ ecosystems with different levels of salinity was carried out in 2016-2021.Two sources of ^(90)Sr input were identified for all the studied lakes:the primary source concerned with atmospheric fallout immediately after the Chernobyl NPP accident and the secondary long-term input of this radionuclide by waterway.The half-life of the ^(90)Sr concentration in the water of the hypers aline Lake Sasyk-Sivash was estimated to vary from 0.8 to 1.1 years after the closure of the North Crimean Canal(NCC).Biogeochemical processes in the lake under the absence of the secondary source of the radionuclide input were shown to decrease in the ^(90)Sr residence time in the water column by 131 times.For brackish water bodies,a significant factor influencing the radionuclide concentration in ecosystems of lakes was the pH of their water,while for hypers aline lakes the level of water salinity was the main factor determining ^(90)Sr behavior.The concentration of ^(90)Sr in bottom sediments of studied lakes depended mainly on this radionuclide concentration in a water environment.Calculated ^(90)Sr distribution factors(Kd) for studied lakes’ bottom sediments varied in a range of n·10^(0)÷n·10^(2) for hypersaline lakes and of n·10^(1)÷n·10^(2) for lakes with brackish waters.Due to the closure of the NCC,the ^(90)Sr redistribution took place in lake ecosystems only under the geochemical processes within the water bodies themselves.The results obtained in this work are of particular importance as a starting point or a basis for further radioecological studies of the Crimean inland waters after the reopening of the NCC and the Dnieper waters re-entering the territory of Crimea in 2022after the 8 years of their absence.
基金supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research Grant No.16-05-00134
文摘Investigations of ^(239+240)Pu and ^(238)Pu in the surface layer(0–5 cm) of bottom sediment in the Crimean 10 salt lakes from 4 geographical groups were carried out for the first time. The ^(239+240)Pu varied widely between regional geographical groups of lakes as well as within groups too and ranged from 11±4 to 451±43 mBq^(239+240)Pu/kg. The highest levels of ^(239+240)Pu—419±27, 443±24 and 451±43 mBq/kg were observed in the Yevpatoriya(Lake Kyzyl-Yar), the Tarkhankut(Dzharylhach) and the Kerch group(Tobechik), respectively. The lowest values of ^(239+240)Pu were identified in three lakes of the Perekop group and were 20±12, 24±6 and 48±6 mBq/kg. In all lakes ^(238)Pu was an order of magnitude lower than 239+240 Pu and varied from 4.8±2.6 to 30.7±5.5 mBq/kg. The ^(238)Pu activity was decay-corrected to 1986. The characteristic ratio of the ^(238)Pu/239+240 Pu activities in the sediment and percentage of the Chernobyl-derived Pu was calculated. The largest percentages of the Chernobyl-derived Pu were observed in the Evpatoriya group(Lake SasykSivash)—16.2%±8.26%, the Tarkhankut group(Dzharylhach)—8.4%±2.10% and the Kerch group(Aktash)—10.5%±5.56%. The study of the depth distribution of plutonium in the Lake Kyzyl-Yar bottom sediment core(0–25 cm) was fulfilled. It was shown that 239+240 Pu was high enough in all studied layers of bottom sediment, but the highest activity ratio ^(238)Pu/239+240 Pu(0.062±0.020) was found in the deepest layer of 15–20.5 cm and the percentage of Chernobyl-derived Pu was estimated at 6.8%±2.85% in this layer.
