. These unlined trenches contain the radioactive fallout that had accumulated on trees, grass, and in the ground to a depth of 10-15 centimeters, which was bulldozed from over an area of roughly 8 kilometers square. There is also a large number of contaminated equipment, engines and vehicles stored in the open air. Much of this equipment has been stolen and looted. Among this contaminated equipment are the helicopters used to dump materials into the reactor well. The pilots of these aircraft have since died from such heavy radiation exposure. Despite this knowledge, at least 700 peasants have returned to the town of Chernobyl. Here these people eat contaminated animals and produce. Some say they would rather die here than live elsewhere.Groundwater contamination is on the rise mostly due to the construction of a wall in 1986 (3.5 km long and 35 m deep) around the reactor to prevent contamination from reaching the Kiev reservoir, and the leaking of drainage connected with the construction of new buildings on the site. While studying the water contamination, it was also been discovered that 32 of 43 explored trenches are periodically or continually flooded, greatly increasing the migration of radionuclicides. The mobility of strontium-90 is especially important in that, from the closest trenches, it might reach the Pripyat River in 10 to 20 years. It is clear that that a large effort needs to be made to monitor unexplored disposalsites and the movement of water. The problem of the potential spread of radioelements to the Pripyat River is very important because it may act as a shortcut for the dispersion of additional radioactive elements outside the 30-km exclusion zone.In general, it has been determined that the Sarcophagus and the waste storage sites in the area are a potential source of further releases of radiation. However, any accidental releases from the Sarcophagus are expected to be very small in comparison with those...
