Environmental radioactivity aspects of recent nuclear accidents associated with undeclared nuclear activities and suggestion for new monitoring strategies

摘要

Recently environmental radionuclide signals were observed in the atmosphere which could be associated with undeclared nuclear activities, not directly connected with development of nuclear weapons. Large-scale contamination of European air with Ru-106 observed in 2017 may represent such an accident, which was probably associated with the Mayak nuclear fuel reprocessing facility in the Chelyabinsk region of Russia. A recently announced nuclear accident at Nyonoska in the Archangelsk region may represent an undeclared nuclear activity associated with the development of a nuclear jet engine which could be based on radionuclide energy generator or a small nuclear reactor. It is concluded that environmental radioactivity impacts associated with recent nuclear activities create new challenges for fast and reliable national and international monitoring systems which would require development of new monitoring strategies.