Radiation Remediation: Unveiling Comprehensive Approaches and Environmental Strategies in the Aftermath of the Chernobyl Accident

Executive Summary

Remediation and reclamation are the first comprehensive approaches to reduce the impact on the environment from radioactive contaminations in soils and aquatic territories in order to leave the site at acceptable levels for its next use. Environmental remediation is the process of defining envionmental problems for determining envrionental remediation investigation, remedial palnning, project close-outand others.

The Remediation of contaminated area of the Chernobyl accident involves complex actions in order to clean up the site from radioactive materials. The main approach of stabilization of the critical situation at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station was building the Sarcophagus with further additional construction of the New Safe Confinement (NSC). Other remediation strategies were included in the region such as water and soil treatments, restriction on deforestation, burying the waste, environmental monitoring, wildlife research and the creation of one of the most unique nature reserve. For the best assistance with such kind of challenging tasks, individuals and organizations seek professional guidance. When facing such academic challenges, students pursuing degrees in the field that is related to environmental science and remediation can also seek UK dissertation help in place to navigate through their research process effectively.

Changing the law and legislation on Nuclear Safety not only applies locally but internationally with robust security and safety measures required. Many regulations were overlooked and the accident at Chernobyl Power Station gave the rest of the world an opportunity to change their perception about the use of Nuclear Power Stations.

Introduction

Environmental pollution is referred to the contamination of biological and physical components of the atmospheric system to an extent that the normal process of the environment management is adversely affected leading to create deteriorated impact on the health and humans (Mamba and Mishra, 2016). One of the prominent and massive incidents of environmental pollution was the Chernobyl disaster that occurred on 26th April, 1986 in Northern Ukraine. The World Nuclear Association informed that the accident in Chernobyl mainly occurred as a result of flawed soviet nuclear reactor design that was being operated by inadequately trained individuals. This is evident as the Soviet-designed RBMK-1000 nuclear reactors are used in the Chernobyl plant which is current universally regarded as flawed design (world-nuclear.org, 2020).

The radioactive elements released by the Chernobyl incident lead to create major harmful impact on the environment such as plants and animals living within 20-30 km of the accident area. This is evident as increased mortality and lower rates of reproduction was reported in case of animals and plants. It leads to the decreased presence of biological population in the area creating an imbalance in the biodiversity (Ager et al. 2019). Further, genetic abnormalities as result of exposure to the radiation lead to morphological and physiological deformities in plants and animals. In addition, livestock and fishes in the freshwater lakes near the area were banned for selling as they reported the presence of high amount of radioactivity making them unfit for human consumption (Mappe et al. 2019). The incident led radioactive materials to also adversely affect the land and water bodies in the area making them unfit to be used (Møller and Mousseau, 2016). This indicates that discussion regarding the environmental reclamation and remediation for the incident is required so that proper biodiversity in the area can be restored and exposure of radiation can be resolved to develop a healthy environment in the area to be fit for living. This is because the key purpose of environmental remediation is reducing exposure of radiation to protect people as well as the environment from the harmful effects of the radiation (Abbott, 2016).

The incident of Chernobyl is regarded as the unique event until data in the history of the commercial performance of nuclear powerplant where radiation-related fatalities occurred at a massive rate. It is evident as after occurrence of the incident, within three months, nearly 30 operators and firemen were killed and several deaths were reported in the area. Moreover, acute radiation syndrome (ARS) was found to be diagnosed in 237 people in the site of occurrence of the accident who are involved with cleaning the area after the accident and a later further confirmed 134 cases were reported out of which 28 people died after few weeks from the accident (world-nuclear.org, 2020; Alinaghizadeh et al. 2016). Further, it was reported that though no offsite impact of the accident was reported but the prevalence of thyroid cancer which was diagnosed in patients in the area who were children at the time of the incident was regarded to be the resultant effect of radiation leak occurred during the incident (Bagcchi, 2016; Yamashita and Thomas, 2017). Thus, the discussion regarding the environmental remediation and reclamation is to be discussed in regard to the Chernobyl incident to determine the way radiation effects created due to the accident can be reduced and a better environment can be built for the human and normal process of environment can be restored.

Causes of the Chernobyl Incident

The presence of increased positive void coefficient in the nuclear reactor present in the Chernobyl is regarded as one of the key cause of the incident. In the study by Volkova et al. (2017), the presence of positive void con-efficient in the RBMK reactors of Chernobyl indicates that increased steam bubbles or void developed in the reactor lead to raise the core reactivity leading to increased heat output. In general, the reactors that have a negative void coefficient releases low heat output as the core reactivity is reduced with the void created within the reactor. This is because in case lower amount of steam bubbles are comtained in the coolant then it leads less number of neutrons to slow down. The faster neutrons are consiered to be less likely involved in creating fission reaction with the uranium atoms which woul result to create less output of power in the form of heat (Khalimonchuk et al. 2016). However, in the RBMK reactors used in Chernobyl, the presence of positive coefficient lead the reactor to remain extensively unstable at the lower levels of power which makes it vulnerable to create dangerous increase in production of energy. Thus, this reason led to the explosion of the reactor during the incident of Chernobyl that leads to increased leakage of radioactive materials in the environment (nei.org, 2019).

The other reason which leads to cause the Chernobyl incident is the presence of the iprope desigining of the control rods. The study by Macleod (2016) mentions that within a nuclea reactor the control rods are present to manage the multiplication factor that is “k” of the reactor. Since it is the key purpose of control rods to absorb neutrons, therefore a withdrawal rod has the function to create the rise of the "k" value and vice-versa. In the nuclear reactor of Chernobyl, it was found that the control rods are 1.3m shorter than the standard size reported internationally. This is considered to be unacceptable as shorter control rods indicates that when they are inserted to absorb neutron in the nuclear chain reaction occurring within the nuclear reactor the rods would be unable to get properly placed in slowing down or stopping the chain reaction completely (nrc.gov, 2020). The exact condition occurred in Chernobyl where the shorter control rods failed to maintain proper k value of the reaction meaning they were unable to control the power of the reactor which lead to the explosion.

The study by Sulaiman et al. (2018) mentions that upper part of the control rods in the nuclear reactor of Chernobyl was found to be filled with boron carbide that is also tipped with graphite act to absorbs neutron to slow down the nuclear fission reaction. When insertion of the control rods is done in the reactor, the graphite part acts to displace some of the coolant leading to raise the fission rate as graphite is a powerful neutron reactor. Thus, this condition led to increased reaction in the nuclear reactors contributing to the explosion caused in Chernobyl plant. In addition, the study by (Shiryaev et al. 2018) mentioned that after accident at the Chernobyl plant it was identified that there were only 8 control rods in the reactor whereas the international standard is to keep minimum of 15 rods. Thus, this informs that the faulty design of the reactor also contributed to the disaster that occurred in the Chernobyl power plant (Pöml and Burakov, 2017).

According to the Chernobyl forum (2005) during the accident about 3% of radionuclides were released into the environment, a total of about 13EBq (1 EBq = 1018 Bq) which were accumulated in union number 4. The accident led to contamination of 137-Cs and 90-Sr which is more than 145 000 square km of Ukraine, the Republic Belarus and the Russian Federation. The contamination also happened in other European countries such as Norway, Finland, Britain, Austria, Finland, Germany, Romania and Sweden. Officially, 238 people were affected by acute radiation syndrome. Radioactive iodine is said to have caused over 4,000 deaths in the population, through its ability to cause thyroid cancer (Chernobyl forum, 2005).

Caesium has a longer half-life (110 days) and can accumulate in the endocrine, heart tissues, kidneys and intestines. The other findings on health impacts relate to exposure to radioactive substances and have caused diseases, created genetically inherited or reproductive defects, such as sterility and birth defects of mutations, plus psychological and mental health problems. The population was affected by high doses between 131-I to 137-C. The list of all radionuclides can be found in Table 1.

Impact of Chernobyl Accident on the environment

Impact on Plants:

The Chernobyl accident leads 580 hectares of Pine forest near the Prypiat River to be damaged by the presence of radionuclides created by 500 mR/h lethal radiation during the two months after the incident. This has led the pine trees to dry out and assume the red colour to be named as "Red Forest". The 50-500 mR/h dosage of radiation lead to create reversible impact on the repaired pine trees for continuous two growing seasons (greenfacts.org, 2020). The study by Kashparov et al. (2019) informed that within 30km zone of the Chernobyl accident effective beta activity (0.7–3.9 GBq m-2) was found that lead to cause sterility as well as reduction in the productivity of few plant species in the area. The presence of spot necrosis on the leaves, inhibition of photosynthesis, withered tips of leaves, hindered transpiration and chromosomal aberrations among the plant species in the area was seen as an effect of exposure to increased radiation (greenfacts.org, 2020). In support, the study by Yoschenko et al. (2018) informed that reproduction abnormalities, mortality rates, stand viability and others of the plants in the area was dependent on the dosage of exposure to the radiation. The extensive irradiation among the Pinus silvestris at 5.0 Gy leads to create detectable damage at cytogenetic level and Gy level less than ! led to create morphological damage on the plants. Thus, it indicates that the Chernobyl accident creates detrimental effect on the plants in the area.

Impact on Animals:

The wash-off by rains and leaf fall lead to create key contamination of the soil invertebrates in the area. After two months of the incident, it was seen that within 3-7 km area on the forest the soil invertebrates were reduced by factor of 30 along wit showcased absence of larvae and lymph (Beresford et al. 2016). This indicated the reproduction process was hindered among the soil vertebrates that led to their increased reduction from the area. The farm animals in the area was also adversely affected. As a result of the radiation explosion, the grass eaten by the animals from the area led to create exposure of the radiation to their guts, thyroid and parts of the body making them face fatal consequences. In addition, decreased thyroid functioning the animals were reported from the area as a result of exposure to high levels of radiation (Shuryak and Dadachova, 2019). The most devastating damage occurred with soil insects such as bees, beetles, butterflies and worms. These decreased the abundance in biodiversity and had a shorter life span and only in 1995 started to recover. The research of Feichtenberger (2014) proved that the European grey wolves (Canus lupus) despite the tendency to bioamplification (concentration of a toxin through the food chain) showed a higher dose of radiation on its skin, but it did not affect reproduction or any further mutations. The packs of wolves thrived in the area due to a plentiful supply of food resources. The European beavers created, with their building of dams, new habitats such as wetland and marshland enhancing local biodiversity. At the same time, the beavers helped flush out some radiation into nearly water bodies (Maughan, 2012). According to Moller (2007), there is little data about the consequences of radiation on birds, however, long-term studies noticed an expand in morphological abnormalities, high levels of albinism, the development of cataracts, reduced abundancy and increased amount of non-breeding birds.

Remediation and Reclamation Strategy

Object sarcophagus for disposal of Chernobyl accident implementations

The sarcophagus was built in just a few days with the aim to minimize radioactive debris. To reduce this, the graphite fire it was decided to bury the reactor in a shield of sand and lead to seal the leak and prevent further release of radioactive materials. The height of the sarcophagus reached 61m, the biggest width of the walls was 18 metres. It became clear that the area under the reactor floor and the building's foundation needed to be sealed in case of underground water contamination with further release into the rivers.

What the sarcophagus has achieved in the first stage:

The reactor was buried under 5000 tonnes of different materials such as sand and lead.

The fire was under control in the damaged reactor

The temperature started to decrease

The chain -reaction never re-started and the most vital risk of meltdown was minimal

The emergency team worked extremely hard putting their own health at risk

The sarcophagus minimized contamination and the radioactive threat to the environment

One of the vital tasks was to conduct serious checks of the sarcophagus to avoid a second explosion. The operation called 'Complex Expedition' a scientific team to re-enter the reactor to examine the situation beneath tonnes of concrete. They allowed to drill holes in the nulclear reactor and insertion of elongated metal detecting tubes in different sides of the reactor. The monitoring lasted for six months using remote cameras to analyse the situation. The scientists identified a radioactive mass, which they gave the name of 'the elephant's foot'. The mass consisted of melted sand along with concrete and key amount of nuclear fuel which has escaped from the nuclear reactor. The concrete present below the reactor was extesively hot and it was found to be breached by the presently solidified lava and chernoblite. The conclusion confirmed that no further risk of explosion is to be faced from the site.

In 1997 the International Chernobyl Shelter Fund was developed to build in the future a cover for the unstable and short-lived sarcophagus. The fund developent led to collection of €810 million which was managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The construction started in 2010 and was finished in 2016 and named the New Safe Confinement. The priority of the New Safe Confinement was designed to make safe deantlement of theh reactor by using equipmets that are remotely operated.

Aquatic remediation

After the accident, the level of radionuclides in the river significantly increased and breached drinking water regulations. However, after a consist process of flushing, burying and decaying, the water quality improved decreasing the concentration of 90-Sr and 137-Cs. The main strategy of water purification from contamination was considered in constructing two earthen dikes on the Pripyat River, which protect against the wash off radionuclides from floodplains. Voitsekovitch (1994) stated that in January 1991the floodplain occurred into the river Pripyat between Yanov Bridge and the town of Chernobyl, releasing high concentration 9-11 Bq/L 90-Sr into the river water exceeding the drinking water limits of 2Bq/L.

On the east and the west banks of the rivers, two earth dikes were erected to prevent water in the floodplain from the desorbing 90-sr from the soil and further transporting it to the River. During 1998 to 2003 a second dike was built on the west bank of the river, which was significantly important as there were temporary waste disposal sites with a high hazard of runoff. As a result, the dike reduced significantly 90-Sr influx to the river from floodplain during the 1999 flood. As a result, the east dike eliminated flooding of 90-Sr concentration into floodplain. The simulation results observed half the 90-Sr concentration were held back by the dike. In conclusion, East dike was successful remediation. As additional remediation, a pumping station was built for preventing underground outflow of radionuclides from the floodplain into the Pripyat River.

Soil remediation

The majority of radionuclides which were released after the accident into the environment had a short physical half-lives. The radionuclides with long half-life such as 131-I and 137-Cs, were the most dangerous of radiological concern as a threat to biota. By 2005 most of the radionuclides released into the environment had already decayed below levels of concern. After the accident, the measurement of the deposition 137-Cs was taken from the soil in different countries. The data showed the level of 137-Cs was ten times higher than average 137-Cs deposition in Europe (International advisory committee, 1991). Beresford and Copplestone (2011) claimed that no seeds were produced in a further 3800ha, which received a smaller dose of about 30-40Gy. The forest regenerated itself in a few years due to the next steps of remediation. The process of remediation of the highly contaminated site involved mechanically removing dead trees and scrubbing soil with further burning in trenches. The sand was scattered instead, however, the risk of migration of Sr-90 from buried material was increasing. This strategy implementation was necessary to prevent the site from future possible fire (Sobotovitch and Bondarenko, 1995). Therefore, the station approach consisted of using bio-chemicals on the poor sandy soils. The method of the creation of an artificial polymer impermeable layer in the sand, hydroseeding of rye and grass by adding fertilizers and covering the site with polymer. A few years later, pine saplings were planted (Blagoev, 1991).

The concentration of 137-Cs was contained in animal products such as milk and other meat products, which had a high risk to people. The main approach of reducing pollutants was feeding animals with uncontaminated products. After the accident one of the aims was to prevent consumption of contaminated milk and to decrease milk 131-I activity concentration (Fesenko, 2007). Hexacyanoferrate compounds (Prussian blue) were added to the diet of cows, sheep and goats to reduce radiocaesium transfer to milk and meat by reducing absorption in the gut. This product was used throughout the Russian Federation and Belarus when Ukraine rather than the expensive Prussian Blue used a cheaper and less effective clay mineral (Ratnikov, 1998).In some highly contaminated areas, a ban was placed on keeping livestock. To minimise radionuclide intake farmers delayed harvesting their crops on purpose. The majority of natural products such as mushrooms, berries, freshwater fish, wild deer and wood material were prohibited from collecting, hunting, consuming and trading. However, many local people ignored those restrictions due to poor social status (IAEA, 2006).

The main task to decrease absorption of radionuclides by plants from the soil and amelioration methods used was included: liming, ploughing, use of mineral fertilizers and improvement meadows. Deep and shallow ploughing was performed only in rich humus soil. It was an effective method in long-term reduction of radiocaesium transfer to plants. The increase implementation of lime in contaminated soils, depending on pH, soil type and crop, significantly reduced the 137-Cs and 90-Sr transfer to crops by a factor 1.5-3 (Fesenko, 2007). RIARAE (1991) claimed that usage of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers also reduced the Cs in plant intake. The optimum N:P:K ratio achieved the maximum reduction (by a factor of 3) in root uptake of radiocaesium was found to be 1:1.5:2. All three methods achieved a reduction in root uptake of radiocaesium 2-3 fold, for organic soils effectiveness were achieved 3-4 fold and for wet peat soils 10-15 fold when drainage was conducted. It can be seen, that some territories were drastically changed through the reclamation process of contaminated area such as arable land transformed into meadow and agricultural land into forestry. Belarus used a successful approach was used in growing rapeseed in the contaminated soil which achieved two aims: one, producing cooking oil and animal fodder and the other was the low uptake of caesium and strontium (Bogdevitch, 1998).

Supportive and Determental roles of Legislation regarding Chernobyl Accident

The massive impact created on the environment and biodiversity by the Chernobyl incident led the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to create changes in the nuclear laws to ensure remediation for the further occurrence of such incident. Before the Chernobyl incident, there was no legislation present which makes it mandatory for a nation to report early notification of any nuclear accident to neighbouring country who may be affected by the accident. This led to create detrimental impact by the Chernobyl incident on Sweden as the Soviet Union then did not report the incidence. As a result, Sweden faced high level of radiation level in the air which lead to create health issues for the public as well as created deteriorated impact on the surroundings (oecd-nea.org, 2006). Thus, as remedy for the condition, the IAEA developed the Convention of Early Notification of Nuclear Accident in 1986. According to the convention, the IAEA made it obligation of the states affected during nuclear accident to inform and notify the states who are considered to be affected by the incident. The Convention also mentioned in the article the different activities to be performed for safe power generation in the nuclear reactors (ilo.org, 2006).

In 1986, as a remediation strategy, the IAEA also introduced Convention on Assistance for Radiological Emergency or Nuclear Accident. As per the Convention, it is the duty of neighbouring states to form cooperation with he affected state to develop activities in minimising the consequences of any nuclear accidents (iaea.org, 2016). After the Chernobyl accident, the international organisation determined that an international regime is to be developed who would set rules for adressal of the compensation and liability of the incident. Thus, it was determined that alteration in the Paris and Vienna Convention is to be made so that compensation to the people affected by such incident can be provided which was previously not available when the Chernobyl incident occurred due to which the Soviet Union did not have provision to provide compensation to the affected (iaea.org, 20202). In 1997, the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage was created under which three different tiers are formed for both national and international funding. This is done to arrange proper compensation for the people to be affected by nuclear accident so that they have finances to be spent to avail care and provisions to overcome the detrimental effects of radiation (iaea.org, 20202). In 2004, the protocol was adopted for amending the Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy. In 2005, the amendment for the Convention of the Physical Protection of Nuclear Materials was adopted. This ensures joint cooperation between states in protecting, recovering and returning any stolen nuclear materials so that any accidents regarding its use can be avoided (iaea.org, 20202).

Conclusion

The above discussion informs that the Chernobyl accident occurred as a result of the faulty design of the RBMK nuclear reactor installed in the plant. This is evident as the control rods are short and less in number compared to international standards and the nuclear reactor has increased void coefficient which all contributed to the explosion of the nuclear reactor due to increased energy release. The impact on the plants, soil, water and other was detrimental as morphological changes, as well as physical disformity, was seen. As a nature of remediation and reclamation, the Sarcophagus was built where the huge walls were created to isolate the affected region. The authorities develop dikes as remediation to avoid the contamination of the freshwater bodies during floods which draw out the radioactive materials from the soil into the water bodies. The implementation of deep ploughing, liming, implementation of fertilizers and others were done for reclamation and remediation of the soil. The changes in legislation and Conventions regarding nuclear plants were made to ensure better liability and compensation of such incidences.

Recommendations

In order to make further remediation and reclamation of the biodiversity in the area of Chernobyl disaster, mycoremediation is to be implemented. The mycoremediation is the process in which plants, bacteria and fungi are used for metabolising or removal of any contaminant from the soil (Galanda et al. 2014). The mycelium of fungi consists of microscopic filaments, called hyphae. The hyphae penetrate soils and it is combined with a variety of evolved biochemical pathways that gives fungi the ability to increase the bioremediation of pollutants in the soil (Harms, 2011). The other method of bioremediation, such as phytoextraction, is where using plants absorption of radioactive materials (caesium and strontium) from the soil their roots can be extracted through. In addition, phytoextraction method is to be applied in which the plants are to made to carry radioactive waster through the roots to their vascular system to remove radionuclides from the soil. For this purpose, the amaranths or common heather species could be planted (Khan and Noor, 2017).

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