Detailed study of post-Chernobyl Cs-137 redistribution in the soils of a small agricultural catchment (Tula region, Russia)

Abstract

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd A detailed study of 137Cs redistribution was conducted within a small agricultural catchment in the highly contaminated Plavsk radioactive hotspot in the Tula region of Central Russia, 32 years after the Chernobyl nuclear power plant (NPP) accident, which occurred on April 26, 1986. Although more than three decades have passed since the Chernobyl NPP incident, 137Cs contamination is high. The 137Cs inventory varies from 67 to 306 kBq·m−2, which is 2–6 times higher than the radiation safety standard; however, the soils remain suitable for crop cultivation. The initial 137Cs fallout within the Plavsk radioactive hotspot was extremely heterogeneous, with a trend of decreasing 137Cs inventories from the NW to the SE directions within the studied territory. Contemporary 137Cs inventories are also very heterogeneous in the studied catchment. However, the trend of the initial 137Cs fallout does not appear in the contemporary 137Cs inventories on the slopes. Two methods of interpolation (expert-visual and automatic) were used to calculate the 137Cs budget, revealing high similarity in their 137Cs loss estimates; however, a large discrepancy was observed in their 137Cs gain estimates. A detailed analysis of 137Cs redistribution revealed the importance of hollows and “plow ramparts” (positive topographic forms on the boundaries of cultivated fields) in the transport and deposition of sediments. A quarter of the total 137Cs gain was deposited within the arable land, whereas a quarter was deposited within the non-plowing sides of the dry valley; the other half was deposited in the valley bottom. About 7–8 × 106 kBq of the 137Cs inventory flowed out of the catchment area, which was only about 2% of the 137Cs fallout after the Chernobyl NPP accident. About 89% of the total 137Cs reserve is concentrated in the top (0–25 cm) layer of soils, regardless of land use or location within the catchment.