Transfer and effects studies in the Chernobyl exclusion zone observatory site within the TREE project

In the 30 years since the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster, wildlife in the highly radioactive Exclusion Zone (CEZ) has thrived in the absence of humans. The area is now species rich with more than 400 species of vertebrates, many of which are listed in Ukrainian and European Red Books. There is a diverse range of habitats in the CEZ including pine and deciduous forests, grasslands, wetlands, rivers, lakes and abandoned towns. Yet, this site is highly heterogeneously contaminated by many radionuclides and has experienced high-level, acute exposures especially from short-lived radionuclides in the immediate aftermath of the disaster resulting in the death of some species in some areas (e.g. the pine trees in the Red Forest). Dose rates remain sufficiently high in some places that we may expect to observe radiation induced effects on wildlife. Consequently, the long-term exposure of wildlife to varying levels of ionising radiation in the CEZ provides us with unique scientific opportunities to understand the environmental fate, behaviour and effects of radionuclides.