AMOUNT OF FUEL EJECTED DURING THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT AS ESTIMATED FROM THE ~(90)Sr SOIL CONCENTRATION IN THE 30-KM ZONE

摘要

According to data presented by Soviet experts at IAEA, the amount of fuel ejected during the Chernobyl accidentrnin 1986 is ～3.5%, of which ～3% fell onto the ground outside the plant site. Before [1,2] appeared this figure was consideredrnonrnto be accurate and was generally accepted. In [1] it was concluded on the basis of later, more careful studies of the ~(90)Sr content in a 30-cm layer of soil in the 30-km zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that the previous near-zone estimates are overstated by a factor of approximately 3. In [2] the fuel amount falling outside the plant site is estimated on the basis of the experimental data of [1] to be ～1.5%, i.e., two times less than the previously generally accepted value. In [3] the new estimate of the ~(90)Sr content in the 30-km zone is, at least, not being criticized. An IAEA report [4], summarizing the results of a 20-year study of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident, acknowledges that ～1.5% of the fuel fell outside the confines of the plant site. A similar report by Ukraine [5] makes no mention at all of a possible ejection of ～1.5% fuel outside the plant site.