14C Cycle in the Hot Zone Around Chernobyl

Abstract

Radiocarbon from the Chernobyl accident was released mainly in two forms: fine dispersed reactor graphite, and carbon dioxide from burning graphite. The CO2 was partly assimilated by annual and perennial vegetation. Reactor graphite dispersed over a wide territory was taken up biochemically by micromicetes, transforming non-organic carbon of the reactor graphite into organic matter. Organic matter of micromicetes is the main nutrition product for soil organisms such as bacteria, worms, larvae of insects, small beetles, etc. The following relatively independent trophic chains are considered: 1. carbon dioxide → leaves, grass → insects; 2. graphite → micromicetes, protozoa, insects. The 14C content in beetles of different species sampled in the 30-km hot zone of the Chernobyl accident site in 1986–1988 agrees well with the contamination levels of insect habitats as well as with their biology.