Airborne radiometric survey of a Chernobyl-contaminated mountain area in Norway - using ground-level measurements for validation

Håvard Thørring; Vikas C Baranwal; Martin A Ytre-Eide; Jan S Rønning; Alexander Mauring; Alexandros Stampolidis; Jon Drefvelin; Robin J Watson; Lavrans Skuterud

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2019.106004

Airborne radiometric survey of a Chernobyl-contaminated mountain area in Norway - using ground-level measurements for validation

J Environ Radioact. 2019 Nov:208-209:106004. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2019.106004. Epub 2019 Jul 9.

Authors

Håvard Thørring¹, Vikas C Baranwal², Martin A Ytre-Eide¹, Jan S Rønning³, Alexander Mauring¹, Alexandros Stampolidis², Jon Drefvelin¹, Robin J Watson², Lavrans Skuterud⁴

Affiliations

¹ Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA), P.O. Box 329, Skøyen, NO-0213, Oslo, Norway.
² Geological Survey of Norway (NGU), P.O. Box 6315, Torgarden, NO-7491, Trondheim, Norway.
³ Geological Survey of Norway (NGU), P.O. Box 6315, Torgarden, NO-7491, Trondheim, Norway; Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491, Trondheim, Norway.
⁴ Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA), P.O. Box 329, Skøyen, NO-0213, Oslo, Norway. Electronic address: Lavrans.Skuterud@dsa.no.

PMID: 31299393
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2019.106004

Abstract

An airborne radiometric survey can be an efficient way to investigate contamination of large areas after nuclear accidents. In the current study, a helicopter borne gamma ray spectrometry survey was carried out in a vast mountainous area in Norway, where the contamination from the 1986 Chernobyl accident still affects animal husbandry more than 30 years after the fallout occurred. The ¹³⁷Cs activity densities provided by the aerial survey was validated using various independent ground-based measurements - including soil samples and in situ measurements (at 1 m above ground). Despite considerable small-scale heterogeneity, demonstrated by the ground-based measurements, strong correlations were obtained between the results from the aerial survey - after introducing more detailed instrument calibration and spectre analysis - and the ground-level data. Adjusted R² values were around 0.9, and linear correlation coefficients close to unity.

Keywords: Aerial radiation monitoring; Cesium-137; Deposition mapping; Gamma spectrometry; Radioactive cesium; Soil sampling.

MeSH terms

Cesium Radioisotopes / analysis
Chernobyl Nuclear Accident
Norway
Radiation Monitoring*
Radioactive Fallout / analysis*
Radioactive Hazard Release
Soil Pollutants, Radioactive / analysis*

Substances

Cesium Radioisotopes
Radioactive Fallout
Soil Pollutants, Radioactive
Cesium-137