The assessment of the April 2020 chernobyl wildfires and their impact on Cs-137 levels in Belgium and The Netherlands

In April 2020, several wildfires took place in and around the Chernobyl exclusion zone. These fires reintroduced radioactive particles deposited during the 1986 Chernobyl disaster into the atmosphere, causing concern about a possible radiation hazard. Several countries and several stations of the International Monitoring System measured increased Cs-137 levels. This study presents the analyses made by RIVM and SCK CEN/RMI during the April 2020 wildfires. Furthermore, more in-depth research was performed after the wildfires. A statistical analysis of Cs-137 detections is presented, comparing the April 2020 detections with historical detections. Inverse atmospheric transport modelling is applied to infer the total released Cs-137 during the wildfires. Finally, it is assessed whether the Cs-137 detections in Belgium and the Netherlands can be attributed to the wildfires