The solubility of the aerosol, 137Cs and 60Co carrier, in the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant region.

The dissolution of aerosol particles, carrier of (137)Cs and (60)Co, sampled on filters is studied by means of a leaching test with distilled water. Samples were collected from the ventilation stack of the operating Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) reactor, the shut down reactor and in the ground-level air. The insolubility in water of radionuclides attached to aerosol particles sampled on filters, collected in the operating Unit 2 reactor effluents, is clearly lower than the insolubility in water of radionuclides attached to aerosol particles sampled on filters, collected in the ground-level air. The mean rate of the change in the insolubility in water of (60)Co and (137)Cs attached to aerosol particles, released from the Ignalina NPP and registered at a 3.5km distance from the NPP, is estimated. The radionuclide activity concentration distribution in the ground-level air is calculated in respect of the insolubility in water of (60)Co attached to aerosol particles and compared with experimental data.

Noble gas radionuclides in RBMK-1500-type reactor.

The presence of noble gas and other short-lived radionuclides in air borne effluents from RBMK-1500-type reactor has been investigated using experimental and theoretical instrumentation for detection purposes. Activity concentrations of (85m)Kr, (87)Kr, (88)Kr, (135m)Xe, (135)Xe, (133)Xe and (41)Ar were measured in air emissions from Ignalina NPP using a special method and special equipment. Theoretical detection of reactor-borne radionuclides and investigation of their behaviour in a nuclear fuel during operation of nuclear reactor was performed using an analytical model based on reactor physics. An innovative method for the estimation of noble gas flow time from the defective nuclear fuel element through the ventilation stack of NPP to the atmosphere based on comparison of the experimentally and theoretically evaluated activity ratios of (88)Kr/(85m)Kr; (135)Xe/(133)Xe has been proposed. The estimated flow time of noble gas provides an excellent possibility to obtain modelling-based information about the qualitative and quantitative content of atmospheric releases from NPP.

A study of the vertical diffusion of the cosmogenic radionuclides, 7Be and 22Na in the atmosphere.

The study of the mean vertical concentration profile of cosmogenic radionuclides provides information on the vertical transport in the troposphere and stratosphere. This paper is based on the results of accurate measurements of the mean monthly activity concentrations of (7)Be and (22)Na in ground-level air, data of the production rate of cosmogenic radionuclides in the atmosphere and a one-dimensional steady-state diffusion equation numerically solving the finite difference approximation.