Imperial College London
Alternate

Professor Nigel Bell

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Centre for Environmental Policy

Emeritus Professor of Environmental Pollution
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 9288n.bell

 
 
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Location

 

16 Prince's GardensSouth Kensington Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Bell:2005:10.1016/j.envint.2005.05.026,
author = {Bell, JNB and Shaw, G},
doi = {10.1016/j.envint.2005.05.026},
journal = {Environ Int},
pages = {771--777},
title = {Ecological lessons from the Chernobyl accident.},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2005.05.026},
volume = {31},
year = {2005}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - The Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986 not only caused serious ecological problems in both the Ukraine and Belarus, which continue to the present day, but also contaminated a large part of the higher latitudes of the northern hemisphere. In this paper an overview is given of the latter problems in upland UK, where ecological problems still remain some 17 years after initial contamination. Following deposition of radiocaesium and radioiodine in May 1986, measurements of radioactivity in grass and soil indicated a rapidly declining problem as the radioiodine decayed and the radiocaesium became immobilised by attachment to clay particles. However, these studies, as well as the advice received by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, were based on lowland agricultural soils, with high clay and low organic matter contents. The behaviour of radiocaesium in upland UK turned out to be dominated by high and persistent levels of mobility and bioavailability. This resulted in the free passage of radiocaesium through the food chain and into sheep. Consequently the Ministry banned the sale and movement of sheep over large areas of upland Britain, with bans remaining on some farms to the present day. Present day predictions suggest that these bans will continue in some cases for some years to come. The causes of radiocaesium mobility in upland areas have subsequently been the subject of intense investigation centred around vegetation and, in particular, soil characteristics. Soil types were identified which were particularly vulnerable in this respect and, where these coincided with high levels of deposition, sheep bans tended to be imposed. While much of the earlier work suggested that a low clay content was the main reason for continuing mobility, a very high organic matter content is now also believed to play a major role, this being a characteristic of wet and acidic upland UK soils. The overall message from this affair is the importance of a fundamental understand
AU  - Bell,JNB
AU  - Shaw,G
DO  - 10.1016/j.envint.2005.05.026
EP  - 777
PY  - 2005///
SN  - 0160-4120
SP  - 771
TI  - Ecological lessons from the Chernobyl accident.
T2  - Environ Int
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2005.05.026
UR  - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16005971
VL  - 31
ER  -
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