IAEA-TECDOC-1240 Present and future environmental impact of the Chernobyl accident Study monitored by an International Advisory Committee under the project management of the Institut de protection et de sûreté nucléaire (IPSN), France August 2001 The originating Section of this publication in the IAEA was: Waste Safety Section International Atomic Energy Agency Wagramer Strasse 5 P.O. Box 100 A-1400 Vienna, Austria PRESENT AND FUTURE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT IAEA, VIENNA, 2001 IAEA-TECDOC-1240 ISSN 1011–4289 © IAEA, 2001 Printed by the IAEA in Austria August 2001 FOREWORD The environmental impact of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident has been extensively investigated by scientists in the countries affected and by international organizations. Assessment of the environmental contamination and the resulting radiation exposure of the population was an important part of the International Chernobyl Project in 1990–1991. This project was designed to assess the measures that the then USSR Government had taken to enable people to live safely in contaminated areas, and to evaluate the measures taken to safeguard human health there. It was organized by the IAEA under the auspices of an International Advisory Committee with the participation of the Commission of the European Communities (CEC), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The IAEA has also been engaged in further studies in this area through projects such as the one on validation of environmental model predictions (VAMP) and through its technical co-operation programme. The project described in this report was initiated after a proposal by Belarus to the 38th regular session of the IAEA General Conference in September 1994 to convene an international group of high level experts to review the information drawn from the long term * studies of the Chernobyl accident and its consequences . After other relevant international organizations had been consulted, it was agreed that the IAEA would formulate a project focusing on the environmental impact of the Chernobyl accident. France responded favourably to the IAEA's invitation to help finance this study, supporting it through the Institut de protection et de sûreté nucléaire (IPSN). The IPSN provided the head of the project, D. Robeau, assisted by a group of technical advisers. The technical investigation of the material reviewed and the drafting of the working document necessary for the compilation of the final report were carried out by specialists in fields including radioecology, radiation protection, rehabilitation and recovery, economics and sociology from Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. The work was based on the national reports and additional material including experimental data obtained and analysed by experts from these three States by 1996. The work was supervised by a project supervisory committee made up of senior experts nominated by the Governments of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine, one expert from France and a chairman, P. Hedemann Jensen, from Denmark. This committee approved the final report after considering comments from five renowned experts who formed an international peer review committee. * "We propose that the IAEA, UNESCO, the World Health Organization and other interested organizations together with the scientists and specialists from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus will analyze and generalize the results of ten years study of the Chernobyl accident. For this reason it seems advisable to form an international group of high-level experts. There is no such necessity at all for this group, as a rule, to go to the contaminated areas and carry out the investigations there. Its task is to study and generalize the material having been already accumulated. In this case the Republic of Belarus is ready to present all the necessary materials. The result of such a work could be the publication of a special final report." (Taken from the Statement of the Head of the Delegation of the Republic of Belarus Mr. A. Mikhalevich at the XXXVIII Session of the IAEA General Conference, 1994). The project had to be completed within a very short time. Its successful completion was only possible with a substantial contribution from the IPSN and the commitment shown in Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine. These and other contributors, listed at the end of the report, are gratefully acknowledged. A draft of this report was originally during the EC/IAEA/WHO International Conference, "One Decade after Chernobyl: Summing up the Consequences of the Accident", held in Vienna, 8–12 April 1996. Comments of the Peer Review Committee and of others have been taken into account in the final version of the report. The efforts of P.J. Waight in unifying the terminology and ensuring clarity of expression are gratefully acknowledged. The IAEA officers responsible for this publication were M. Balonov and M. Gustafsson of the Division of Radiation and Waste Safety. EDITORIAL NOTE The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA. CONTENTS SUMMARY................................................................................................................................1 1. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................2 1.1. Background...................................................................................................................2 1.2. Objective and scope......................................................................................................2 1.3. Structure........................................................................................................................2 2. CURRENT RADIOLOGICAL SITUATION AND PROGNOSIS FOR THE FUTURE........................................................................................4 2.1. Soil contamination with radionuclides .........................................................................4 2.1.1. Release of radionuclides and contamination of territories ...............................4 2.1.2. Vertical migration of radionuclides in the soil ...............................................11 2.1.3. Radioactive contamination of water bodies....................................................13 2.2. Radioactive contamination affecting agriculture ........................................................15 2.2.1. Soil-to-plant transfer.......................................................................................15 2.2.2. Levels of contamination in agricultural products ...........................................18 2.3. Radioactive contamination of forest...........................................................................24 2.3.1. Tree contamination.........................................................................................24 2.3.2. Contamination of mushrooms and berries......................................................27 2.4. Individual annual doses and lifetime doses to the population ....................................28 2.4.1. Doses to the thyroid........................................................................................28 2.4.2. External dose ..................................................................................................29 2.4.3. Internal dose from long lived radionuclides ...................................................30 2.5. Dose rate reduction with time.....................................................................................33 References to Section 2 ........................................................................................................36 3. FACTORS AFFECTING LIFE IN THE CONTAMINATED REGIONS...........................40 3.1. Features common to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)......................40 3.1.1. Effects on the well-being of the population....................................................40 3.1.2. Effects on industrial and agricultural production ...........................................40 3.1.3. Changes in agricultural practices in the contaminated areas ..........................41 3.1.4. Conditions for safe living ...............................................................................41 3.2. Situation in Belarus.....................................................................................................42 3.2.1. Effects on the well-being of the population....................................................42 3.2.2. Effects on industrial and agricultural production ...........................................43 3.2.3. Changes in agricultural practices in the contaminated areas ..........................46 3.2.4. Conditions for safe living ...............................................................................48 3.2.5. Perspectives for the future ..............................................................................49