International exercise to measure radioactivity in the Chernobyl exclusion zone

A sign in the exclusion zone warns against entering the "Red Forest", an area that was contaminated to the highest extent after the Chernobyl accident.

The German Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) and the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine will conduct radioactivity measurements in the exclusion zone around the damaged reactor block of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant from 26 to 29 September 2016. The Ukrainian and German teams plan to jointly train radioactivity measurements in special operating conditions. The results will help to determine the current radiological situation in the 30-kilometre zone surrounding the nuclear power plant.

The exercise was initiated by BfS and will be supported by

• the Chernobyl Centre for Nuclear Safety, Radioactive Waste and Radioecology,
• the Centre's higher-level authority, i.e. the State Agency of Ukraine on the Exclusion Zone Management and
• the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine.

"In our position as Germany's radiation protection authority we must be prepared for an accident including the release of radioactive substances from a nuclear power plant. We need to collect data quickly and reliably with respect to the radiation exposure in the concerned areas so that we will be able to recommend the appropriate radiation protection measures. It is therefore important to train the relevant radioactivity measurements in a situation as close to reality as possible", says Wolfram König, President of the Federal Office for Radiation Protection.

BfS regularly performs exercises and measurements on the ground and in the air. Fortunately, however, conditions similar to the situation after a nuclear accident do not exist in Germany. The current exercise thus focuses on the practical education and training of personnel for special operation conditions including enhanced levels of ionising radiation. The experts will also put an emphasis on international cooperation and the exchange of measurement results in the event of a nuclear emergency. Furthermore, the exercise will help to verify the efficiency and accuracy of different measurement procedures.

In the course of the exercise several areas within the exclusion zone will be radiologically investigated. Activities will focus in particular on the following:

• Measurements aimed at determining the local dose rate and the soil contamination,
• Comparative measurements with the help of the different measurement systems used by the institutions involved,
• Radiological exploration of urban territories,
• Sampling and analysis of soil samples, and
• Joint evaluation of the measurement results.

The outcomes of the exercise will be published in the form of a joint scientific report.