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Soil moisture (SM) information is invaluable for a wide range of applications, including weather forecasting, hydrological and land surface modeling, and agricultural production. However, there is still a lack of sensing information that adequately represents root‐zone SM for longer periods and larger spatial scales. One option for root‐zone SM observation is terrestrial gamma radiation (TGR), as it is inversely related to SM. Hence, the near real‐time data of more than 5000 environmental gamma radiation (EGR) monitoring stations archived by the EUropean Radiological Data Exchange Platform (EURDEP) is a potential source to develop a root‐zone SM product for Europe without extra investments in SM sensors. This study aims to investigate to what extent the EURDEP data can be used for SM estimation. For this, two EGR monitoring stations were equipped with in situ SM sensors to measure reference SM. The terrestrial component of EGR was extracted after eliminating the contributions of rain washout and secondary cosmic radiation, and used to obtain a functional relationship with SM. We predicted the weekly volumetric SM with a root mean square error of 7%–9% from TGR measurements. Nevertheless, we believe that this technique, due to its greater penetration depth and long data legacy, can provide useful data complementary to satellite‐based remote sensing techniques to estimate root‐zone SM at the continental scale. Core Ideas: An extensive early warning monitoring network for environmental gamma radiation (EGR) is maintained in Europe.Since soil moisture influences EGR, this database could be used to derive continental soil moisture products.To test this, two monitoring stations in Germany were selected and equipped with reference soil moisture sensors.From the terrestrial component of EGR, soil moisture was determined with an error of 7–9 vol.%. Plain Language Summary: Information on the temporal dynamics of SM across a large area is vital for many sectors. An extensive network for monitoring EGR detectors that has been operated across Europe after the Chernobyl nuclear accident is a potential source for deriving continental‐scale SM information without additional costs. We investigated how accurately SM can be estimated from the data of two of such detectors. The results showed that weekly SM estimates with an accuracy of 0.07–0.09 cm3 cm−3 are feasible after adequate data processing accounting for other factors affecting EGR. We also discussed possible sources that affected the accuracy of the SM estimates and provided directions for further research. Despite the current limitations, EGR data show potential for estimating SM across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The editorial "Doing STS Now: Of Hackers and Angels in Technoscience" is a collaborative effort by Early Career Researchers from various nations. It reflects on the practice of Science and Technology Studies (STS) to foster more just worlds inside and outside academia. The editorial discusses the concepts of "hacking" and "inverting the angel trick" as critical modes of STS, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches and the need to challenge technocratic values in academic institutions. The authors advocate for a more socially just practice in STS through collective action and solidarity. [Extracted from the article]

This document discusses the health effects of low-dose-rate radiation exposure with cumulative doses. It challenges the linear no-threshold (LNT) paradigm, which asserts that any dose of radiation carries some risk of harm, and argues that low doses of radiation may actually have beneficial effects and stimulate protective biological responses. The document highlights research on animals and populations exposed to radiation, which suggests a possible threshold or hormetic response. It emphasizes the need for further research on low-dose-rate radiation exposure with cumulative doses to inform policymaking and reduce public anxiety. The document also mentions the consequences of improper evacuation during nuclear accidents, particularly for vulnerable populations. Overall, the document suggests that investigating the health effects of low-dose-rate irradiation with cumulative threshold doses is a promising area of research with significant scientific, social, and economic value. [Extracted from the article]

Ukraine has intensified its efforts to tackle environmental concerns following the ratification of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union in 2014. However, Ukraine has taken several steps to protect and revitalise its natural resources, integrate environmental concerns into its economic development strategies, and accelerate the transition to a more sustainable, low-carbon, and environmentally friendly economy. Since Russia's invasion in 2022, Ukraine's economic and environmental growth has been hampered, threatening its autonomy, ecological consciousness, and sustainable future. A large percentage of the population has been under siege or forced relocation due to the humanitarian situation, which has caused the deaths of thousands. Significant environmental repercussions have been detected. This study critically examines the environmental effects of the Russian-Ukraine War. This research initially covers eastern industrial dangers, the possibility of a second Chernobyl nuclear disaster, global wheat farming issues, and conflictrelated environmental degradation. This paper argues that the Russia-Ukraine war threatens climate security. This paper also suggested ways to reduce the conflict's environmental impact. Lastly, this work submits that the challenge of post-war rebuilding will be enormous and will call for an all-encompassing, wellplanned, and adequately funded endeavour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Anthropocene denotes an era of accelerated human impact on the environment. Although discourses of the Anthropocene are often criticized for representing colonial and specifically capitalist interests of economic growth, this paper examines, in the case of Ukraine, how these discourses can be applied to uncover and address social (post)colonial impacts of non-capitalist regimes (those also not classified as "Global North"). In particular, the analysis focuses on the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant accident on local communities in Ukraine. As academics of Ukrainian background, authors share their first-hand experiences of such impact on their lives and wellbeing of their families, communities, and land. The narrative research framework is used to engage with the modern Ukrainian community and discuss the implications of geopolitical and cultural proximity of the coloniser, with a particular focus on displacement and forced migration. This is especially relevant as it is reflected in the current refugee crisis and tactics of nuclear terrorism used by the Russian government in the war against Ukraine. This paper is a valuable resource for promoting and giving a voice to the Ukrainian people and potentially other peoples in post-Soviet space to unveil their colonial legacy and utilise the discourses of the Anthropocene to aid more effective decolonisation processes in the future of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to assess the artificial and natural radiation dose levels in certain districts of Kocaeli province within the Marmara region, 37 years after the Chernobyl nuclear accident, and evaluate the current status prior to potential nuclear leakage events from Zaporijya or other nuclear power plants. Radioactive concentrations of 232Th, 238U, 40K and 137Cs were determined using HPGe gamma spectrometry in 26 soil samples collected from the region of interest. The average concentrations were found to be 22.35 Bqkg−1 for 238U, 26.36 Bqkg−1 for 232Th, 368.34 Bqkg−1 for 40K, and 2.44 Bqkg−1 for 137Cs. Furthermore, the study revealed an absorbed dose rate of 41.73 nGyh−1, an annual effective dose equivalent of 51.18 µSvy−1, and an excess lifetime cancer risk of 0.00018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 1986 Chernobyl disaster and its consequences related to the incidence of thyroid tumors have been frequently investigated in the past decades. Thyroid tumor is the most common malignant disease of the endocrine system. Risk factors for thyroid tumor include exposure to ionizing radiation, a family history of thyroid tumors, low iodine in the diet, some rare hereditary syndromes, female sex, and low vitamin D levels. Despite the possible exposure to radionuclides after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the results of research conducted in Croatia did not show an undeniable link between the incidence of thyroid tumors and exposure to radionuclides after the Chernobyl disaster in individuals who were in the risk group (born between 1966 and 1986). Research conducted in Europe indicate the incidence of thyroid tumors due to environmental and genetic factors, while research conducted in the territory of the former USSR indicates the incidence of thyroid tumors in children as a direct consequence of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl. Although trends in the world indicate a significant increase in the number of new cases of thyroid tumors, about 5% per year in the last 20 years, a large part of the increase in the number of new cases is attributed to better diagnostics and more frequent thyroid ultrasound examinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study -- which employs the methodology of archive-based historiography -- focuses on the awkward elaboration of an Italian «roadmap» to deal with nuclear waste and, notably, the crucial role of a national repository. Drawing on a number of unpublished archival sources, but crucially on uncatalogued original documents of ENEA -- then the Italian nuclear authority -- the study investigates the specific contribution of experts and scientists, and their relationship with political decision-makers. Preliminary conclusions: in the Seventies, the basic assumption was that nuclear waste would be reprocessed in a single national facility, but against the ever-decreasing perspective for nuclear power in Italy, an open-cycle approach was adopted. By 1984 ENEA had prepared definite proposals on the possible repository sites, considering the issue of low- and medium-activity waste urgent. However, it received no acknowledgment of any kind by the Ministry of Industry in spite of repeated urgings. After Chernobyl the issue was buried, and eventually resurrected only in mid-Nineties. After 2001 political elections, the «roadmap» devised with great difficulty was turned upside down by favouring a top-down approach to the siting issue which would eventually backfire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes the forms of scientific counter-expertise that developed in the field of radiation protection between the Seventies and the Eighties. Starting in the early Seventies, a growing number of scientists began examining the effects radioactive emissions had on people's health. Through a series of studies carried out mostly in the United States, they highlighted the increase in the number of cancer cases among people living close to nuclear industrial facilities and challenged existing regulatory requirements, arguing that there was no safe threshold for radiation exposure. Their work was widely disseminated in the aftermath of the Three Mile Island accident of 1979, when scientists became more fully engaged in public and political debates about the health and environmental effects of nuclear installations. As antinuclear and environmental movements spread across the United States and Western Europe, American studies were translated into different languages and discussed among scientists, political activists and citizens on the two sides of the Atlantic. The article devotes particular attention to the study of Italian «scientific environmentalism», which drew on and established connections with American and European scientists to challenge the government's decision to build dozens of nuclear power plants across the country. In the first half of the Eighties, and especially in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, scientists increasingly defined themselves as counter-experts and mobilized their knowledge, expertise, and networks to pressure national and international institutions to improve their legislation on radiation protection and nuclear safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a short autobiography by Rien van Genuchten, who received the 2023 Wolf Prize in agriculture for his work on water flow and contaminant transport in soils. Van Genuchten discusses his upbringing on a family farm in the Netherlands, his education in mathematics and tropical agriculture, and his research in soil physics and vadose zone hydrology at New Mexico State University and Princeton University. He describes his contributions to the field, including the development of mathematical models and analytical functions to describe unsaturated soil hydraulic properties. The text also covers the author's collaborations, international research experiences, and concerns about environmental issues and climate change. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the concerns surrounding the discharge of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the sea. The wastewater originated from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which experienced a meltdown in 2011. The wastewater contains radioactive isotopes, including tritium, which can have potential harmful impacts on marine life. The long-term effects of these radioactive substances on the marine food web and the evolution of marine organisms are still largely unknown. The article suggests continuous monitoring of the wastewater, scientific supervision of radiation monitoring, and long-term assessment of ecological changes to ensure the stability of marine ecosystems. [Extracted from the article]

This study explores the concept of 'slow violence,' a term coined by Rob Nixon to describe the insidious, often unnoticed effects of power imbalances over time. It examines how 'state vampirism' and 'industrial capitalism' oppress marginalized populations, with a focus on India's dependency on countries like the USA. The research juxtaposes exploitation and deprivation in human-induced disasters, such as the Bhopal Gas tragedy (1984) and Chornobyl (1986), through the lens of Marxist subalternism. It also analyzes the portrayal of these themes in the 2023 Netflix series "The Railway Men: The Untold Story of Bhopal 1984," highlighting the plight of slum dwellers near Bhopal's carbide factory. Ultimately, this paper questions the victimization process by capitalist multinationals, positioning Bhopal as a prime example of 'corporate violence.'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data on green patents filed at the European Patent Office from 1980 to 1984, this paper investigates the effect of increasing government R&D budget on green technology spillovers. Spillovers are measured with patent forward citations over the period 1981–1988. The level of government R&D budget is instrumented leveraging the unexpected occurrence of the Chernobyl nuclear accident—that exogenously pushed governments to reduce their energy-related R&D budgets—in a difference in differences setting. 2SLS results show that a 10% increase in government R&D increases by some 0.7% the number of citations received by green patents. Although positive and significant, the small magnitude of the estimated elasticity suggests that government R&D takes time to let innovation spillovers from green technologies to materialize with some relevance. Interestingly, increasing government R&D expenditures fosters green technology spillovers across traditional (non-green) fields and enlarges the technological breadth of inventions citing green patents. Overall, I conclude that government R&D fosters green knowledge spillovers, accelerates hybridization processes and favors technological diversification around green technologies. However, these positive effects seem to materialize at a slow pace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The document is a response to a comment made by Steve Fuller on the book "A Theory of Catastrophe." The author discusses various topics related to catastrophe, including theodicy, historical analysis, and the question of optimism in the face of catastrophe. They also explore the impact of COVID-19 on society and the role of sociology in understanding and responding to major catastrophes. The author concludes with a defense of inter-generational ethics and a discussion on demographic issues, such as declining fertility rates and the potential need for technological advancements to supplement the labor force. [Extracted from the article]

After the nuclear accidents of Chernobyl and Fukushima, several countries concerned with nuclear energy production set up robotic accident intervention groups with the aim to intervene in place of humans in hostile environments with high levels of contamination or irradiation. It is the case of France. The operational feedback of such robotic groups may be of interest for teams performing decommissioning on nuclear facilities. In this aim, a comparative analysis of robotic intervention contexts was undertaken between training contexts and a real operating situation. This allowed us to confirm determinants of performance already identified in the literature and highlighted new determinants of performance for intervention in nuclear environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The biological impacts of the nuclear accidents in Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011) on wildlife have been studied in many organisms over decades, mainly from dosimetric perspectives based on laboratory experiments using indicator species. However, ecological perspectives are required to understand indirect field-specific effects among species, which are difficult to evaluate under dosimetric laboratory conditions. From the viewpoint that microbes play a fundamental role in ecosystem function as decomposers and symbionts for plants, we reviewed studies on microbes inhabiting soil and plants in Chernobyl and Fukushima in an attempt to find supporting evidence for indirect field-specific effects on plants and insect herbivores. Compositional changes in soil microbes associated with decreases in abundance and species diversity were reported, especially in heavily contaminated areas of both Chernobyl and Fukushima, which may accompany explosions of radioresistant species. In Chernobyl, the population size of soil microbes remained low for at least 20 years after the accident, and the abundance of plant-associated microbes, which are related to the growth and defense systems of plants, possibly decreased. These reported changes in microbes likely affect soil conditions and alter plant physiology. These microbe-mediated effects may then indirectly affect insect herbivores through food-mass-mediated, pollen-mediated, and metabolite-mediated interactions. Metabolite-mediated interactions may be a major pathway for ecological impacts at low pollution levels and could explain the decreases in insect herbivores in Fukushima. The present review highlights the importance of the indirect field effects of long-term low-dose radiation exposure under complex field circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Environmental Medicine / Medycyna Środowiskowa is the property of Witold Chodzki Institute of Rural Medicine and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The high potential of nuclear power to combat climate change and support sustainable development plays a critical role in achieving the goal of the Paris Agreement. Moreover, with the ever-increasing demand for electricity, it is essential to consider nuclear power as a reliable source of energy. However, it should be noted that although the risk of a radiological accident is small, it always exists, and therefore it is crucial to have a complete understanding of the management of nuclear power. Herein, we present a statistical review of nuclear accident research at Chernobyl and Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants using bibliometric analysis to identify key patterns in scientific results and current issues in accident research. More than 10,000 articles have been collected from the SCOPUS database covering the periods 1986–2022 and 2011–2022 on Chernobyl and Fukushima, respectively. The results were obtained from two perspectives: first, we identified stages through which pre- and post-accident researches have evolved, and then we analysed the spatial correlation between energy-economic performance and scientific literature for the leading productive countries. From the analysis of research trends, it was found that the number of articles increased sharply immediately after the accident and slightly decreased over time. Among the most attractive subject categories in terms of the largest number of publications and received citations were environmental sciences, medicine and energy policy. The productive country ranking was mostly topped by the country in which the accident occurred. Spatial statistical analysis revealed a strong correlation between the scientific productivity and energy-economic performance of the leading countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The release of the television series Chernobyl (HBO, Sky Atlantic 2019) drew renewed attention to the tragedy, its locations, and the affected population, generating new productions in Russia, such as the film Chernobyl: Abyss (Danila Kozlovskij, 2021), explicitly made in response to the Western series, signalling a desire to re-appropriate the narrative of the disaster and its territories. Indeed, a recurrent characteristic of the film and television productions of the countries most affected by the 1986 nuclear disaster (Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia) has been the representation of the land and the inhabitants' relationship with it (Lindbladh 2019). This is also a central theme in Svetlana Alexievich's renowned 1997 work Voices from Chernobyl: Chronicle of the future, whose stories inspired some episodes of the Anglo-American series. This article analyzes the representation of the relationship between the inhabitants of the Chornobyl/Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and their homeland in film and television productions dedicated to the nuclear disaster, beginning with Eastern European films made in the early 1990s, moving on to the representation in the Western series, and culminating with an analysis of Kozlovskij's Chernobyl: Abyss. Features considered include the development of romantic narratives within the contaminated zone, the visual representation of radiation, and the depiction of the local institutions' response to the disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On March 18, 2011, one of Germany's most famous children's book authors, Gudrun Pausewang (1928-2020), publicly spoke about the connection between 3/11 and her award-winning 1987 classic, Fall-Out (Die Wolke). I posit that Michaël Ferrier's texts with a 3/11 theme highlight the synchronic as well as diachronic dimensions of the Great East Japan Disaster and therefore go far beyond Pausewang's 1987 approach to think globally about nuclear energy and technological risk scenarios. While Pausewang's novel focuses on the tragic experience of a young adult who copes with the aftermath of a nuclear accident in Germany in the 1980s, Ferrier strategically reveals the complexities of knowledge and uncertainty in the wake of environmental and human catastrophe as an on-going crisis or déjà-vu of Chernobyl and Hiroshima. My analysis explores Ferrier's (re)mediation of the convolution of this crisis across various media, including documents of popular culture, by insisting on the thematic and structural connections between his texts with a 3/11 theme, Pausewang's 1987 novel, and two German adaptations of Pausewang's novel, Gregor Schnitzler's 2006 drama film, Die Wolke, as well as a Anike Hage's 2008 graphic novel. Ferrier's works unapologetically reveal elisions that have occurred in mediated disaster narratives across borders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The need to call out and expose authors for their persistence in improperly using epidemiology has been previously noted. Tsuda et al. have done well to expose Schüz et al.'s arguments/assertions in their recent publication in Environmental Heath. In this Comment, I point out that, also warranting being called out, are the arguments/assertions of Cléro et al. who, in their recent response to an article by Tsuda et al., reiterated the conclusions and recommendations derived from their European project, which were published in Environment International in 2021. Tsuda et al. had critiqued the Cléro et al. 2021 publication in their 2022 review article. However, in their response to it, Cléro et al. deflected by not addressing any of the key points that Tsuda et al. had made in their review regarding the aftermath of the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents. In this Comment, I critique Cléro et al.'s inadequate response. Publication of this Comment will help in routing out the improper use of epidemiology in the formulation of public health policy and thereby reduce the influence of misinformation on both science and public policy. My critique of Cléro et al. is not dissimilar from Tsuda et al.'s critique of Schüz et al.: in as much as Schüz et al. should withdraw their work, so should Cléro et al.'s article be retracted. Main body: The response by Cléro et al. consists of four paragraphs. First was their assertion that the purpose of the SHAMISEN project was to make recommendations based on scientific evidence and that it was not a systematic review of all related articles. I point out that the Cléro et al. recommendations were not based on objective scientific evidence, but on biased studies. In the second paragraph, Cléro et al. reaffirmed the SHAMISEN Consortium report, which claimed that the overdiagnosis observed in non-exposed adults was applicable to children because children are mirrors of adults. However, the authors of that report withheld statements about secondary examinations in Fukushima that provided evidence against overdiagnosis. In the third paragraph, Cléro et al. provided an explanation regarding their disclosure of conflicting interests, which was contrary to professional norms for transparency and thus was unacceptable. Finally, their insistence that the Tsuda et al. study was an ecological study susceptible to "the ecological fallacy" indicated their lack of epidemiological knowledge about ecological studies. Ironically, many of the papers cited by Cléro et al. regarding overdiagnosis were, in fact, ecological studies. Conclusion: Cléro et al. and the SHAMISEN Consortium should withdraw their recommendation "not to launch a mass thyroid cancer screening after a nuclear accident, but rather to make it available (with appropriate information counselling) to those who request it." Their recommendation is based on biased evidence and would cause confusion regarding public health measures following a nuclear accident. Those authors should, in my assessment, acquaint themselves with modern epidemiology and evidence-based public health. Like Tsuda et al. recommended of Schüz et al., Cléro et al. ought also to retract their article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After the Chernobyl accident, a designated area of ~1000 m2 within the University farm of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Northern Greece was utilized as a test ground for radioecological measurements. The profile of 137Cs in the soil was monitored from 1987 to 2023, with soil samples collected in 5-cm-thick slices (layers) down to a depth of 30 cm. The mean total deposition of 137Cs in the area, backdated to the time of the Chernobyl accident, was determined to be 18.6 ± 1.8 kBq m−2 based on four follow-up profile measurements of 137Cs in the soil for the years 2022 and 2023. It is noteworthy that this value is similar the total deposition at the site, which was independently measured to be about 20 kBq m−2 during the first year after the Chernobyl accident. The fractional contribution of each soil layer (e.g. 0–5 cm, 5–10 cm, 10–15 cm, etc.) to the total deposition of 137Cs (0–30 cm) is presented and analyzed. A compartment model was utilized to forecast the temporal evolution of fractional contributions of the different soil layers to the total deposition of 137Cs (0–30 cm). In this model, each soil layer is represented as a separate compartment. The model assumes that the transfer rates between adjacent compartments are equal. The agreement between the measured fractional contributions and the model predictions suggests that the compartment model with equal transfer rates can capture the broad patterns of 137Cs migration within the soil layers over the long period of 1987–2023. However, the use of a second compartment model with increasing transfer rates between consecutive soil layers did not align with the observed outcomes. This indicates that diffusion may not be the primary migration mechanism over the 36-y period covered by our study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although some adverse effects on neurocognitive function have been reported in children and adolescents irradiated prenatally during the atomic bombings and the Chernobyl nuclear accident, little information is available for effects on the elderly. Here we evaluate the effects of prenatal exposure to atomic bomb radiation on subjective neurocognitive function in aged survivors. To evaluate neurocognitive impairment, we mailed the Neurocognitive Questionnaire (NCQ), a self-administered scale, to prenatally exposed survivors, including clinic visitors and non-visitors at the time of the 2011 and 2013 Adult Health Study (AHS) examinations. We received replies from 444 individuals (mean age, 66.9 ± 0.6 years). After adjusting for sex, city, and educational background, we found no significant effects of radiation, clinic visit, or interaction between radiation and clinic visit on the scores of the 4 NCQ factors of metacognition, emotional regulation, motivation/organization, and processing speed. Even in analyses considering gestational age at the time of the bombings, none of the 4 NCQ factor scores was related to maternal uterine dose. There remains the limitation that this study consisted of healthy survivors, but we found no significant radiation effect on late-life cognition in people prenatally exposed to atomic bomb radiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The total annual effective dose has steadily decreased since the fallout of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. However, chronic internal exposure to 137Cs still persists and fluctuates in a complex and unpredictable manner. Recently, body contamination was found to primarily occur owing to the intake of forest foodstuffs that contain long-lived 137Cs. Forest foodstuffs may have up to 100 times higher concentration of cesium than does local milk and meat. The present study aimed to investigate the recent dietary habits of residents in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine, and assess the effect of the intake of forest foodstuffs on the increase in internal radioactivity from 137Cs. We screened 1,612 participants, from July 2016 to February 2018 for internal radioactivity, using whole-body counter at Korosten Medical Center and surveyed their background and intake habits. We analyzed the association among food type, intake frequency, and internal exposure dose. The analysis revealed that nearly 90% of the participants regularly consumed one of the forest foodstuffs (mushrooms, berries, fish) or milk. Nearly 80% of the participants indicated that they consumed mushrooms or berries or both. Internal radioactivity was detected in 30% of the participants. The diet that included mushrooms exhibited the highest internal radioactivity. The lowest Bq/kg concentration was observed in the only-berry group, following the no-intake group. There was a significant correlation between the intake frequency and the magnitude of Bq/kg. Radioactivity detected in the mushroom-berry and only-mushroom group were 8.6 and 9.2 Bq/kg, respectively. The lowest and highest intake frequency showed a radioactivity of 2.4 and 7.5 Bq/kg, respectively. Radioactivity in the winter season was significantly higher than that in other seasons. In conclusion, our study revealed that internal radioactivity varies depending on the type of food, intake frequency, and season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the Atom Suit Project carried out by Japanese artist Kenji Yanobe in the Chornobyl zone in 1997. Employing an ecocritical theoretical lens, I focus on the relationship between the artwork and the place of its stage--a site of a nuclear disaster--in order to better understand art's agency in the face of the ecological emergencies caused by the nuclear industry's impact on the planet's environment locally and globally. In brief, the main claim of the article is this: if the Chornobyl disaster endangered the basic biological need of staying alive, the Atom Suit Project surpassed trivializing survival as an art theme and instead enacted it as an aspect of the disaster's reality. In the main body of the article, I support this claim by detailing the project's survival strategies ranging from radiation shielding, body mobility, and the danger detection system to evoking hope and interfering with the politics of nuclear denial. The article's concluding section discusses the Atom Suit Project's potential to survive into the deep future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Voluntaris: Journal of Volunteer Services & Civic Engagement / Zeitschrift für Freiwilligendienste und Zivilgesellschaftliches Engagement is the property of Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

According to Gabrielle Hecht, nuclear energy in South Africa is mired in a wider history of colonial extractivism and racial oppression. Nadine Gordimer's 2005 novel Get a Life critiques this politics of nuclear power and the way in which it extends the logic of colonialism to the exploitation of the non-human ecosystem in the interest of capital. However, the spatial and temporal scale of nuclear colonialism defy representation in discursive knowledge. This is because the threat posed by nuclear contamination, on both the non-human ecosystem and the people who have been exposed to radiation, is what Rob Nixon describes as a form of "slow violence", dispersed across vast temporal and geographical scales that are unrepresentable within human understanding. In response, Get a Life marks a phenomenological shift in Gordimer's strategies of engagement: through the ambiguities and contradictions of form, the novel demonstrates the reconfiguration in the human subject's encounter with the non-human ecosystem following the impact of nuclear technology in neo-imperial contexts. Through the protagonist Paul Bannerman's emerging radioactivity, the novel tentatively imagines a shared vulnerability of both human and non-human beings to nuclear catastrophe in a way that rejects the binary logic of human exploitation of the non-human landscape and characterizes what Donna Haraway terms "response-ability" towards the non-human. Through this embodied response-ability, Gordimer presents a new idiom that offers an alternative way of engaging with the unrepresentable scale of nuclear colonialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses the significance new forms of literary narration can have on the representation of groundbreaking historical events. Based initially on Hayden White's work and his term modernist event, we argue that new kinds of events need new ways of writing history. However, neither has White given any concrete persuasive examples of how his paradigmatic historical work might look like nor have his critics given enough attention to his considerations on the matter. By focusing our analysis on Svetlana Alexievich's literary work and specifically on her book Voices from Chernobyl, we try to achieve exactly this: to analyze the innovative literary features that Alexievich develops in the testimonial narratives she builds and to highlight the importance they have for representing the past. For this purpose, we take a closer look at the thematic connection of the testimonies and the sense of non-linearity they create; comment on her success to approach in this way the 'unseen event' and bring the reader closer to the horrific and confusing reality that the witnesses describe; and show how literary techniques like the use of parataxis can efficiently grasp and mediate the differences in the temporal scale of hard-to-comprehend historical events and their consequences. Especially examining how Alexievich deals with this temporal particularity in her narrative, the paper suggests new ways to deal with the complex temporalities and discontinuities that go beyond modern historical thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do some large-scale adverse events receive major media coverage and become crises for public actors while others are treated as routine events? This article reinvestigates this question based on a case study of the media treatment in France of the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear accidents. Drawing on an original set of media data and an ethnographic study, the article shows how both accidents were subject to forms of opacity that limit their effects on nuclear institutions: Chernobyl has been treated through secrecy that leads to contestation of nuclear institutions, whereas Fukushima has been characterized by "public containment," relying on extensive publication but low-priority and uncontroversial narratives that do not reflect the stakes of a given policy field. This paper explains the role of Fukushima in France through institutional transformations that public actors engaged in following Chernobyl to reestablish the credibility of public information sources and to monitor public debates over nuclear accidents by developing "hybrid" spaces, located at the interface of organizational frontstages and backstages. This case shows how responding to transparency demands may sometimes create new forms of opacity by reducing the epistemic quality of public debates while containing political crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Natural and anthropogenic disasters can have long-lasting impacts on the genetics and structure of impacted populations. The 1986 Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster led to extensive contamination of the local environment and the wildlife therein. Several ecological, environmental, and genetic studies reported various effects of this disaster on animal, insect, and plant species; however, little work has been done to investigate the genetics of the free-breeding dogs that occupy the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ). Results: We define the population genetic structure of two groups of dogs that reside within the CEZ, one around the reactor site itself and another living within Chernobyl City. We found little evidence of gene flow and a significant degree of genetic differentiation between the two populations dogs, suggesting that these are two distinct populations despite occupying areas located just 16 km apart. With an FST-based outlier analysis, we then performed a genome-wide scan for evidence of directional selection within the dog populations. We found 391 outlier loci associated with genomic regions influenced by directional selection, from which we identified 52 candidate genes. Conclusions: Our genome scan highlighted outlier loci within or near genomic regions under directional selection, possibly in response to the multi-generational exposure faced. In defining the population structure and identifying candidate genes for these dog populations, we take steps towards understanding how these types of prolonged exposures have impacted these populations. Plain English Summary: Wildlife populations can be greatly affected by disasters, whether they are natural or man-made. Disasters that result in contamination or habitat destruction can result in population declines or influence wildlife adaptation to these adverse environmental changes. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster released an enormous quantity of ionizing radiation into the surrounding environment. Abandonment of military and industrial facilities, as well as subsequent cleanup and remediation efforts, resulted in further environmental contamination by a variety of non-radioactive toxic metals, chemicals, and compounds. Earlier studies investigated local wildlife responses to some of these exposures. In this study, we address the impact of this disaster on the population structure of free-breeding dogs that live around the power plant and in the nearby city of Chernobyl. In particular, we use genetic approaches to understand how these two populations of dogs interact and their breed composition, so that we may begin to understand how these populations have adapted to over 30 years of exposure to this harsh environment. In this foundational study we determined that while the two local populations of dogs are separated by only 16 km, they have very low rates of interpopulation migration. We also detected genetic evidence that suggests that these population may have adapted to exposures faced over many generations. In future studies, we aim to determine if the genetic variation detected is indeed a biological response to enable survival after multi-generational exposures to radiation, heavy metals, organic toxins, or other environmental contaminants. In this way, we then understand how the impact of environmental catastrophes such as the Chernobyl nuclear disaster can influence animal populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smells issuing from chemical production gave a focal point to the abstract terms in which the public and the media discussed questions of emissions, contaminated sites, pesticides, and dioxin – all burning issues in Germany between the late 1970s and the mid-1980s. Residents of the city of Darmstadt who lived close to a chemical plant belonging to the local Merck corporation reacted emotionally to the odors it gave of f, fearing health risks. These odors and the criticism they provoked gave the wider protest a local momentum and potency. The link between emotion and smell became, on the one hand, an argument of counter-knowledge, one that challenged established sovereignty over interpretation, (male) expert roles and social power distribution. On the other hand, experts questioned the rational character of critique with reference to emotions, faith, or femininity. Yet the protest was at least partly successful. It transformed a backroom discussion of experts into public, it challenged established systems of knowledge and control successfully, and it raised political pressure. A fundamental change in chemical production or the question of pesticides, however, did not occur. A contributing factor to this failure may have been that the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 diverted the focus of environmental movements elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The "Chernobyl nuclear disaster" released huge amounts of radionuclides, which are still detectable in plants and sediments today. Bryophytes (mosses) are primitive land plants lacking roots and protective cuticles and therefore readily accumulate multiple contaminants, including metals and radionuclides. This study quantifies 137Cs and 241Am in moss samples from the cooling pond of the power plant, the surrounding woodland and the city of Prypiat. Activity concentrations of up to 297 Bq/g (137Cs) and 0.43 Bq/g (241Am) were found. 137Cs contents were significantly higher at the cooling pond, where 241Am was not detectable. Distance to the damaged reactor, amount of original fallout, presence of vascular tissue in the stem or taxonomy were of little importance. Mosses seem to absorb radionuclides rather indiscriminately, if available. More than 30 years after the disaster, 137Cs was washed out from the very top layer of the soil, where it is no more accessible for rootless mosses but possibly for higher plants. On the other hand, 137Cs still remains solved and accessible in the cooling pond. However, 241Am remained adsorbed to the topsoil, thus accessible to terrestrial mosses, but precipitated in the sapropel of the cooling pond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contribution of environmental movements to eastern Europe's recent history is underexamined and widely seen as marginal. However, environmental movements were important forces in the democratic transition and continue to guard against authoritarian drift and the weakening of the rule of law. Especially after the Chernobyl disaster, environmental movements in 1980s Poland organised opposition against the military dictatorship and helped lay the ground for the democratic transition. In 2020s Serbia, environmental movements protesting against infrastructure projects that undermine the wellbeing and livelihoods of local populations have formed a democratic alternative to established political elites. Both cases demonstrate the historical and ongoing significance of environmental movements to eastern Europe politics and society and underline how environmental movements expose the flaws and vulnerabilities of undemocratic systems. Drawing on historical research and the experiences of participants, this article shows how environmental movements protect, deepen and shape democracy as practised and experienced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Radiation exposure is known to be mutagenic and teratogenic. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of the increased ionizing radiation emitted by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster on maternal and fetal outcomes in Hungary. Methods: A retrospective analysis of abortion, stillbirth, and congenital anomaly data for pregnancies in Hungary between 1 January 1981 and 31 December 1991 was conducted. Results: Trend analysis revealed increasing trends in spontaneous and voluntary abortion rates in Hungary during the study time period, while late pregnancy losses showed a decreasing trend. Overall, there were generally decreasing incidence rates for birth defects throughout the 1980s. Increased voluntary abortions over the study period might reflect, at least in part, maternal anxiety in the post-Chernobyl years. Decreased late pregnancy loss over the same period may be attributable to improvements in prenatal diagnostics. A notable weakness of this study is that missing data could not be complemented due to the decades that have passed since the incident. Conclusions: In conclusion, the present data suggest that the nuclear catastrophe in 1986 did not cause a significant increase in pregnancy loss or congenital malformations in Hungary. BRIEF SUMMARY Radiation exposure in Hungary caused by the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster did not results in increases in fetal death or congenital anomaly rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many people living around the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP) have been exposed to 137Cs for several decades after the CNPP accident. Although half-life of 137Cs is about 30 years, some wild forest foodstuffs are contaminated by 137Cs even now. We pointed out in a previous report that low-dose internal radiation has been occasionally detected in people's body. Moreover, some doctors in local hospitals have claimed that internal exposure from contaminated foodstuffs may affect the digestive organs and possibly cause gastrointestinal (GI) diseases. Thus, we attempt to assess whether internal radiation exposure affects digestive organs or not, and the possible factors that influence digestive organs. Overall, 1,612 residents were assessed for internal 137Cs concentration using Whole-Body Counter and their digestive organs were screened with upper GI endoscopy from 2016–2018 in the Zhytomyr region, Ukraine. All participants answered to the questionnaire including their background, intake of wild forest foodstuff, intake frequency, smoking habits, and alcohol consumption. We checked the number of upper GI endoscopic diagnosis per person to assess the extent of damage to the upper digestive organs. Next, we statistically analyzed associations between this number and age, sex, level of internal exposure dose, alcohol consumption, wild forest foodstuff intake, and smoking. Consequently, we revealed that the number of GI diagnosis is significantly increased by factors such as sex, intake of wild forest foodstuff, and alcohol consumption. However, the average level of internal exposure of 137Cs and smoking did not relate to the number of GI diagnosis. Thus, the results of multiple regression revealed that alcohol consumption is independently related to the number of GI diagnosis that is most likely accompanied by the intake of wild forest foodstuff. In conclusion, the low-dose internal exposure may not affect the digestive organs of residents living around CNPP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nuclear reactor accident in Chernobyl, Ukraine, resulted in effects both locally and farther away. Most of the contaminated areas were the agricultural fields and forests. Experimental fields were established near Chernobyl—radioactively contaminated fields localized 5 km from Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant as well as the remediated soil that is localized directly in the Chernobyl town. Two flax varieties growing under chronic exposition to ionizing radiation were used for this study—the local Ukrainian variety Kyivskyi and a commercial variety Bethune. The screening of the length polymorphism generated by transposable elements insertions were performed. All known types of common flax transposon, retrotransposons and iPBS approach were used. In the iPBS multiplex analyze, for the Kyivskyi variety, a unique addition was found in the seeds from the radioactive contaminated field and for the Bethune variety, a total of five amplicon additions were obtained and one deletion. For the TRIM Cassandra fingerprints, two amplicon additions were generated in the seeds from radioactive contaminated fields for the Bethune variety. In summary, the obtained data represent the genetic diversity between control and irradiated subgroups of flax seeds from Chernobyl area and the presence of activated transposable elements due to the irradiation stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How have migrants and other displaced and internally excluded persons used dissimulation and self-forgery in service of mobility? How can we read an aesthetics of disappearance as more than just an aesthetical choice but as a source of activism? Following Jacques Rancière [The politics of aesthetics (G. Rockhill. Trans.). Continuum. (Original Work Published in, 2000)], I understand that such aesthetic acts are capable of creating 'new modes of sense perception' and, in doing so, produce alternative forms of political subjectivity. In this essay, I compare migrant self-representations and creative tactics of camouflage, mimicry, and dissembling with public practices, while looking at the extraterritorial space of the makeshift camp as a paradigm for preserving invisibility and anonymity. And yet, it is not just that aesthetic acts have the potential to produce novel forms of political subjectivity, as Rancière understood, but that, in order for the latter to be true, the equation needs to be reversed: political subjects must first be recognized as aesthetic subjects. As I place the multimedia work of Cold War East German artist Cornelia Schleime in conversation with the contemporary glitch art – drawings, paintings, video – of Kon Trubkovich, who was born in Moscow and left, at age eleven, following the Chernobyl disaster, I argue that to reorient the terms of visibility, it becomes necessary for subject-producers to stage the gaze that would otherwise objectify them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to radiation is a natural part of our environment. Yet, due to nuclear accidents such as at Chernobyl, some organisms are exposed to significantly elevated dose rates. Our understanding of the effects of radiation in the environment is limited, confounded by substantial interspecific differences in radio‐sensitivity and conflicting findings.Here we study radiation impacts on bumblebees in the laboratory using principles from life‐history theory, which assume organismal investment in fitness‐related traits is constrained by resource availability and resource allocation decisions. To investigate how chronic radiation might negatively affect life‐history traits, we tested whether exposure affects bumblebee energy budgets by studying resource acquisition (feeding) and resource use (metabolic rate).We monitored metabolic rate, movement and nectar intake of bumblebees before, during and after 10 days of radiation exposure. Subsequently, we monitored feeding and body mass across a dose rate gradient to investigate the dose rate threshold for these effects. We studied dose rates up to 200 μGy/hr: a range found today in some areas of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.Chronic low‐dose radiation affected bumblebee energy budgets. At 200 μGy/hr nectar consumption elevated by 56% relative to controls, metabolic CO2 production increased by 18%, and time spent active rose by 30%. Once radiation exposure stopped, feeding remained elevated but CO2 production and activity returned to baseline. Our analysis indicates that elevated metabolic rate was not driven by increased activity but was instead closely associated with feeding increases. Our data suggest bumblebee nectar consumption was affected across the 50–200 μGy/hr range.We show field‐realistic radiation exposure influences fundamental metabolic processes with potential to drive changes in many downstream life‐history traits. We hypothesise that radiation may trigger energetically costly repair mechanisms, increasing metabolic rate and nectar requirements. This change could have significant ecological consequences in contaminated landscapes, including Chernobyl. We demonstrate bumblebees are more sensitive to radiation than assumed by existing international frameworks for environmental radiological protection. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HBO's five-episode docudrama Chernobyl (2019) is an attempt to reimagine the horrific nuclear explosion of 1986 in Pripyat, and what it was like to live through the catastrophic tragedy. Throughout the extent of the show, the creators are seen attempting to strike a balance between the dramatization required for televisual representation and the effort to maintain historical accuracy. Subsequently, Chernobyl successfully portrays (and juxtaposes) two conflicting responses to the disaster of 1986 -- the state-sanctioned denial and distortion of the real events incorporated by a series of self-serving officials, and the "personal evaluation" of first-hand witnesses -- such as Valery Legasov, Boris Scherbina, and Ulana Khomyuk -- configured to establish a counternarrative to a state-monopolized history. Hence, Chernobyl becomes what Agnes Heller calls an 'evaluative reconstruction' of the 1986 disaster, ma ing way for a historiographical study. This article will also attempt to illustrate how Craig Mazin and Johan Renck's portrayal of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster opens up the possibility of critiquing the pre-existing unquestionability, and the imagined notions of power and perfection of the Soviet hierarchy, as is represented in the show by a set of corrupt government agents and servicemen working for the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]