Articles | Volume 17, issue 14
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8805-2017
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8805-2017
Research article
 | 
20 Jul 2017
Research article |  | 20 Jul 2017

Inverse modeling of the Chernobyl source term using atmospheric concentration and deposition measurements

Nikolaos Evangeliou, Thomas Hamburger, Anne Cozic, Yves Balkanski, and Andreas Stohl

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Cited articles

Abagyan, A. A., Ilyin, L. A., Izrael, Y. A., Legasov, V. A., and Petrov, V. E.: The information on the Chernobyl accident and its consequences prepared for IAEA, Sov. At. Energy, 61, 301–320, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01122262, 1986.
Albergel, A., Martin, D., Strauss, B., and Gros, J. M.: The chernobyl accident: Modelling of dispersion over europe of the radioactive plume and comparison with air activity measurements, Atmos. Environ., 22, 2431–2444, https://doi.org/10.1016/0004-6981(88)90475-1, 1988.
Andreev, I., Hittenberger, M., Hofer, P., Kromp-Kolb, H., Kromp, W., Seibert, P., and Wotawa, G.: Risks due to beyond design base accidents of nuclear power plants in Europe – The methodology of riskmap, J. Hazard. Mater., 61, 257–262, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0304-3894(98)00130-7, 1998.
Aoyama, M., Hirose, K., and Sugimura, Y.: Deposition of gamma-emitting nuclides in Japan after the reactor-IV accident at Chernobyl, J. Radioan. Nucl. Ch. Ar., 116, 291–306, https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02035773, 1987.
Arvela, H., Markkanen, M., and Lemmela, H.: Mobile Survey of environmental gamma radiation and fallout level in Finland after Chernobyl accident, Radiat. Prot. Dosim., 32, 177–184, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.rpd.a080734, 1990.
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This is the first paper that attempts to assess the source term of the Chernobyl accident using not only activity concentrations but also deposition measurements. This is done by using the FLEXPART model combined with a Bayesian inversion algorithm. Our results show that the altitude of the injection during the first days of the accident might have reached up to 3 km, in contrast to what has been already reported (2.2 km maximum), in order the model to better match observations.
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