Observation of Radioactive Aerosol Emissions from the Sarcophagus at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant

It is shown that high wind velocity outdoors results in a higher concentration of radioactive aerosols in the ventillation exhaust from the sarcophagus. Aerosol samples from manholes in the roof of the sarcophagus have been collected, for the first time ever, in January-December 2002 on trilayer filter packets. The super(137)Cs concentration in outgoing flows is 0.7-2.3 Bq/m super(3). The activity median aerodynamic diameter of the aerosol carrier particles is 0.7-1.8 km. At the same time, the super(137)Cs concentration in the atomspheric layer at the ground dear the sarcophagus was 1000 times lower and the carrier-particle sizes 2-4 times larger.