Using The Town of Prypyat as The Model to Assess Consequences of Potential Radiation Fallout, Which Might Follow Nuclear Accidents or Terrorist Attacks Involoving “Dirty” Weapons

Period: 2003 – 2004

Customer: Texas Tech University, USA

Project objective: study characteristics of urban areas’ potential radioactive contamination that may be caused by radiation accidents or terrorist attacks involving “dirty” weapons; develop and test the models used to assess potential risks for the public and environment.

Scope of work:

• digital reconstruction of the town of Prypyat and development of a database using the capabilities of thre global positioning system, further integration into a geoinformational system (GIS);
• spectrometry of the urban areas’ elements using a mobile spectrometer with germanium detector;
• measuring the levels of radionuclides content in soils near buildings, in parks, on lawns, etc.;
• dosimetry of various internal sections and levels of buildings;
• researching the boundaries of the radioactive release’s north trace going along the eastern part of the town;
• development and testing of the model, comparison of the modeling results with the real contamination of the town of Prypyat that was described within the project framework.

Results:

• model of a spread of radioactive materials in urban areas;
• results of testing the model under the conditions of the town of Prypyat;
• results of shielding effects modeling for the components of urban landscape under the conditions of radioactivity spread;
• forecast models used to assess radiation doses, public health, and ecological risks emerged as a result of urban areas radioactive contamination.
• maps of Prypyat radioactive contamination.

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