Dynamics of the Radioactive Pollution in the Surface Layer of Soils in Bulgaria Twenty Years after the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident

The twenty years period past after the contamination with radionuclides in 1986, as a result of the accident in the Chernobyl’s NPP, allowed the accumulation of rich data base for the radiation status of the soils in Bulgaria. Objective of many years studies were virgin soils from high mountain areas, hilly and flat (the region of Kozlodouy NPP and the Danube river valley). Ceasium-137 and strontium-90 were the main men-made radionuclides detected in the examined Bulgarian soils, few years after the accident. The content of ceasium-137 and strontium-90 in the soils from high mountain areas (Rodopa and Rila mountains) is several times higher then that in the soils from Northern Bulgaria and Sofia field. High non-homogeneity in the pollution within small areas (scores of square meters even) was determined. No significant horizontal redistribution was observed for the period after 1986. The tendency of changes in the radioactive status of the soils in Bulgaria after the accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is not due to trans-border transfer of radioactive materials or to any breakdown at the Kosloduy Nuclear Power Plant.