Pre and post-chernobyl environmental radioactivity in Romania: A review

Abstract

The influence of the Chernobyl accident on environmental radioactivity in Romania (period 1986-1994) was analysed mainly on the basis of gamma spectrometric measurements of environmental samples (atmospheric aerosol and deposition, soil, surface water, Danube and Black Sea water, sediment and biota). As part of the Romanian environmental radioactivity monitoring programme, environmental samples were systematically collected at the sampling stations of the National Environmental Radioactivity Surveillance Network (NERSN) and analysed for gamma emitting radionuclides at the Environmental Radioactivity Laboratory, Bucharest-Afumati, for gamma spectrometric analyses. All stations followed a unitary programme and methodology to collect and prepare samples, performing prompt gross beta measurements. Chernobyl fallout space-time patterns, radionuclide concentration ratios and deposition velocities were determined. The resuspension process was studied and a time dependence model of resuspension factors for 137Cs was proposed. Hot particles were identified in some of the deposition samples. The dynamics of 137Cs in Romanian rivers, Danube and the Black Sea is presented.