# Evaluation of Radioactive Air Contamination due to a Forest Fire within the Exclusion Zone on June 5–8, 2018

М. М. Talerko1, Т. D. Lev1, S. I. Kireev2, V. О. Каshpur1, G. G. Кuzmenko1

1Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants, NAS of Ukraine,
12, Lysogirska st., Kyiv, 03028, Ukraine
2State Specialized Enterprise “Ecocenter”,
6, Shkilna st., Chornobyl, 07270, Ukraine

DOI: doi.org/10.31717/2311-8253.19.2.7

### Abstract

The results of simulation of the radioactive aerosol atmospheric transport due to a fire in forest areas in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone (near the ISF-2) during June 5–8, 2018 are presented. To assess its consequences, a modeling complex of the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants was used, which includes a mesoscale weather forecast model WRF, model of convective plume formation over the fire area, and the Lagrangian–Eulerian diffusion radionuclide atmospheric transport model LEDI. Model calculations for the radioactive combustion products transport are carried out at a distance of up to 100 km from the fire area. The results of sampling of burned forest litter and upper layer of soil, made for estimation of total activity stock at the 2 fire sites, are presented. The average 137Cs surface contamination density was obtained to be about 2.85 MBq/m2 (with a variability of this value from 1.02 to 5.40 MBq/m2). According to calculations, the maximum value of the 137Cs activity in the surface air in Kyiv in some periods of the fire could reach values of about 1 mBq/m3, in Chornobyl – about 10 mBq/m3. The overall results are in agreement with the measurements of the 137Cs activity in the air carried out by the network of Automated Radiation Monitoring System ASKRO posts of the SSE “Ecocenter”, as well as air sampling data in Mila village of the Kyiv region (results of the State Scientific Technical Centre on Nuclear and Radiation Safety).

Keywords: wildland fires, resuspension, radionuclide, atmospheric transport, modeling, Exclusion zone.

### References

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Published
2019-08-31

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