Izvestiya vuzov. Yadernaya Energetika

The peer-reviewed scientific and technology journal. ISSN: 0204-3327

Study of the 137Cs Content in Soils within the Area Nearby the Karpov Research and Development Institute of Physical Chemistry

3/25/2025 2025 - #01 Environmental aspects of nuclear power

Udalova A.A. Melnikova T.V. Nepogodina Y.V. Kiseleva L.A.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2025.1.09

UDC: 574.4; 504.05; 621.039

A large array of radioecological data was obtained in the six-year course of a research work (2018 – 2023) to investigate the state of the natural environment within the area nearby a non-energetic nuclear facility, the Karpov Research and Development Institute of Physical Chemistry (Karpov Institute) in Obninsk. The paper presents the results of investigating the content of the technogenic 137Cs radionuclide in the soil within the area adjacent to the facility. Soil samples were taken each year in the period between 2018 and 2023 in the Karpov Institute’s sanitary protection zone and surveillance zone. The localities explored include: open field and woodland, anthropogenically disturbed and undisturbed, roadside and predominant emission spread areas. The specific activity of 137Cs in soil was found to vary within 2.6 ± 0.3 to 10.6 ± 0.8 Bq/kg. The highest 137Cs levels are observed for the woodland area with the undisturbed soil surface; the obtained values correspond to the regional level of 10 Bq/kg formed by the global fallout after nuclear tests in the middle of the past century. There has been a direct correlation revealed between the specific activity of the radionuclide and the content of organic matter in soil, and an inverse correlation between the levels of 137Cs and the actual acidity of the soil solution. It is shown that the anthropogenic activity related to construction and road works has a major effect both on the physicochemical properties of the soil and the content of 137Cs in soil. No impact on the content of the long-lived technogenic 137Cs radionuclide in soil within the facility’s sanitary protection zone and surveillance zone has been revealed from the Karpov Institute operation.

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137Cs soil environment radioactive contamination research reactor radioisotope production

Link for citing the article: Udalova A.A., Melnikova T.V., Nepogodina Y.V., Kiseleva L.A. Study of the 137Cs Content in Soils within the Area Nearby the Karpov Research and Development Institute of Physical Chemistry. Izvestiya vuzov. Yadernaya Energetika. 2025, no. 1, pp. 128-140; DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2025.1.09 (in Russian).

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