2018 Measurement exercise in Chornobyl (video diary)

Measurement of the local dose rate wearing protective equipment

Even 32 years after the Chornobyl reactor accident, enhanced radiation levels are still recorded in the 30-kilometre-zone around the nuclear power plant situated in the area. In an environment contaminated with radioactivity, the BfS trained the process of mobile measurements, the co-ordination of measuring teams, and the transfer and evaluation of the data compiled in the framework of a measurement exercise. The situation after an accident in a nuclear power plant was simulated in the measurement exercise.

Some members of the measuring teams were underway in vehicles or on foot wearing protective equipment and respiratory masks and carrying mobile measuring systems in backpacks to record the gamma dose rate and the contamination of the soil at different places within the restricted area of Chornobyl (Russian: Chernobyl). By means of mobile data transfer, the measurement data thus collected were transferred to Germany. In the BfS measurement centre it was processed further and evaluated to get a picture of the radiological situation.

Video diary

In a video diary, the BfS members Daniel Esch, Hermann John and Stefan Seifert reported on the exercise. Please click on "CC" in the video player to display English subtitles for a video.

10. September 2018: Conclusion

Daniel Esch: "It is Monday morning and all participants have returned to Berlin. In the opinion of the operations management the measurement exercise was a great success. Especially the communication with the measuring teams was excellent. And all measurement orders were performed."

Hermann John: "From my point of view I can say that all measuring devices and vehicles worked very well on-site. The data transfer worked and the co-operation with the Ukrainian teams on-site was excellent."

Stefan Seifert: "From the perspective of the operations management I must say that the exercise was an outstanding success. The exercise goals were achieved and what's of course most important: All participants have returned to Berlin safe and sound. No accidents happened, no one was contaminated, and also the incorporation measurements have now concluded and we know that there were no incorporations."

9. September 2018: Arrival in Berlin-Karlshorst

Daniel Esch: "It's Sunday evening just after half past six, and the last BfS vehicle has just arrived in Berlin. Behind me, a short debriefing is taking place before all participants return to their hotel rooms. Tomorrow everyone will come again to the office to carry out a final whole-body measurement."

8. September 2018: Departure from Chernobyl

Daniel Esch: "It's now Saturday morning, 8.00 a.m. and we have just formed to leave the city of Chernobyl in the restricted area. In about half an hour we will pass the outer checkpoint and drive towards the Ukrainian-Polish border, which we will reach after about 500 kilometres."

7. September 2018: A visit to reactor unit 3

Daniel Esch: "I am here in reactor unit 3 of the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. After the disaster of 1986, this reactor unit continued to be operated until 2000 supplying electricity for Ukraine."

7. September 2018: Measuring devices are packed for transportation to Germany

Daniel Esch: "Hello, it's Friday morning and yesterday we successfully completed our measurement campaign in the restricted area of Chernobyl. Behind me, the measurement equipment is being packed into the boxes we brought and prepared for transportation by the shipping company. Tomorrow morning we are heading to Germany and are probably arriving in Berlin-Karlshorst on Sunday evening."

6. September 2018: Mobile measurements in the abandoned city of Prypjat

Daniel Esch: "Hello, I am here in the abandoned city of Prypjat in the restricted area of Chernobyl. Behind me you can see buildings that had to be evacuated after the reactor accident in 1986. Today we are training mobile measurements in urban areas. At selected points we are going to conduct gamma spectrometric measurements to determine the nuclide vector of the radioactivity deposited then."

6. September 2018: The abandoned fair in Prypjat

Stefan Seifert: "Hello, welcome to our video diary. We are here in Prypjat, a small town situated north of the reactor in Chernobyl where the accident occurred. Here, we also carried out measurements, among others in-situ measurements and measurements of the gamma dose rate, and I am just standing in front of one of the, if you like, landmarks. This is a picture that probably everyone knows: an old fair with a Ferris wheel, which of course remained standing as it had to be left after the accident."

5. September 2018: Decontamination of a truck

Daniel Esch: "Hello, I am here in the central decontamination hall of the Chernobyl restricted area. Behind me, a truck is being decontaminated which was found to have an impermissible contamination during the departure check. Once it has been re-measured, it will be completely decontaminated and then released, so it can resume its journey."

5. September 2018: Measurements on-site

Hermann John: "Hello, today is September 5, Day 3 of the Chernobyl measurement exercise, and we are here on-site. After having obtained an overview of the situation by vehicle yesterday, today's measurement task is to carry out in-situ measurements and to determine the gamma dose rate by mobile measuring teams."

4. September 2018: Interim conclusion by the exercise management

Stefan Seifert: "Hello, welcome to our video diary. Today I report from our hotel in Chernobyl where we have equipped a small room for the operations management that has accompanied our first real measurement day today. From the exercise management point of view everything worked very well. The operations management had some minor problems with the data transfer from the measuring teams, who of course need to transfer the data in order for the operations management to be able to follow where our measuring teams are at the moment. As said before, there were a few problems but otherwise the operations management has solved them in an excellent way from the point of view of the exercise management."

3. September 2018: Preparation of measuring devices

Hermann John: "Hello, today is Monday, Day 1 in Chernobyl, and have just fetched our equipment from the store. We are just cooling the gamma detectors with liquid nitrogen. They are necessary to record a gamma spectrum on-site for the purpose of nuclide determination."

2. September 2018: Arrival at the restricted area of Chernobyl

Daniel Esch: "It's now Sunday evening and we have just arrived at the checkpoint to the entrance of the restricted area of Chernobyl. Since yesterday, we have travelled approx. 1,300 kilometres. Once we have passed the checkpoint, we will carry on to the hotel. Tomorrow morning, in Chernobyl, we will unload our equipment tomorrow morning to prepare everything for the measurements."

1. September 2018: Start in Berlin

Daniel Esch: "Good morning, it's Saturday, just after eight a.m. and I am standing here at the BfS office in Berlin-Karlshorst. In a few minutes we are going to start, so that we can travel 800 kilometres through Poland today, until we have reached our hotel tonight which is situated at the Polish-Ukrainian border."

31. August 2018: Measurement in the whole-body counter

Daniel Esch: "Today is Friday, and tomorrow we are heading towards Chernobyl. I am here inside the whole-body counter of the BfS in the BfS office Berlin-Karlshorst. In this whole-body counter, the radioactive substances taken up in the body are measured in this whole-body counter with the help of a gamma detector. To be able to identify how many radioactive substances have been taken up during the exercise, all participants will be measured within this whole-body counter before and after the exercise and the resulting radiation exposure will be determined."

Round of introductions

As a start of the video diary, Daniel Esch, Herman John and Stefan Seifert shortly introduce themselves and explain their roles and tasks in the measurement exercise:

Daniel Esch

Daniel Esch: "My name is Daniel Esch. I work as a physicist at the Federal Office for Radiation Protection in the department "Emergency Preparedness and Response". Over the next week, the BfS is performing a measurement exercise in the restricted area of Chernobyl. Within the next few days I am going to report on this measurement exercise in a video diary from the perspective of the operations management."

Hermann John

Hermann John: "Hello, my name is Hermann John. I am an in-situ measurement engineer at the Federal Office for Radiation Protection at the Rendsburg office. Over the next week, during the exercise in Chernobyl, I will be on-site with a measuring team and report on this work in the video diary."

Stefan Seifert

Stefan Seifert: "Hello, my name is Stefan Seifert. I am a physicist. I work at the Federal Office for Radiation Protection in the department "Emergency Preparedness and Response", part of which will be performing a measurement exercise in the restricted area of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant over the next week. I will also take part in this measurement exercise and will be a member of the exercise management, and from this perspective I will also report in a video diary within the coming week."