General information
The laboratory was founded on July 2016. The lab team carries out studies on assessment and modeling of the content, translocation of technogenic pollutants (radionuclides, heavy metals etc.) in the environment; development of software and technical facilities for analyzing anthropogenic loads and environmental safety; development and improvement of methodological approaches on assessment of ecologycal and radiation risks.
Laboratory staff works on:
– methods for determining and reducing migration of pollutants in order to minimize consequences of anthropogenic impact on the environment,
– development of multifunctional decision support systems based on GIS technologies for pollutants transfer prediction on contaminated territories of the Republic of Belarus.
Laboratory staff:
Lab manager, Ph.D. Dvornik Alexander
Senior researcher, Shamal Natalia
Researcher, Korol Raisa
Researcher, Kopyltsova Elena
Young researcher, Bardyukova Alesya
Young researcher, Seglin Veronica
Young researcher, Kurilenko Roman
Current research
Following the National Science and Technologies Strategy 2018¬–2040, we are involved in:
– development of new detection methods and the ways to limit migration of various contaminants in order to minimize technogenic impact on the environment,
– design of multifunctional GIS-based expert systems for the quantitative characterization and prediction of contaminants redistribution in anthropogenically disturbed territories of Belarus.
Within the framework of the National R&D Programme “Chemical Materials and Technologies, Environment and Natural Resources”, sub-programme “Radiation, Ecology and Technosphere” (in cooperation with Francisk Skorina Gomel State University), our research is dedicated to:
– behaviour of radionuclides in natural ecosystems,
– dynamics of the radiation situation,
– basic regularities of radionuclide migration in various components of biogeocenoses. So far, we have acquired experimental data on the content of long-lived radionuclides (including transuranic elements) in combustible materials of contaminated pine biogeocenoses, and measured relative release rates and other parameters in a series of controlled wildfire experiments.
International cooperation
Under Cooperation Agreement with Medical Radiation Physics, Lund University (Lund, Sweden) and Research Institute of Radiation Hygiene named after Professor P.V. Ramzaev (Saint Petersburg, Russia), the lab took part in the calibration of a backpack radiation detection system (BPRDS) and associated in situ measurements.
In 2017, the laboratory was hosting an IAEA TC fellow from the Institute of Radiation Safety and Ecology of the National Nuclear Centre of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Infrastructure
The lab facilities operate in line with the requirements of Class III Operations with Radioactive Materials and are equipped with the following instrumentation:
Canberra Alpha Analyst Integrated Alpha Spectrometer
ORTEC GEM 40200b High Purity Germanium Radiation Detector
Canberra Tri-carb Liquid Scintillation Counter
A variety of sampling and sample preparation equipment: air and soil samplers, drying ovens, muffle furnaces, grinders, etc.
ТА-4 Voltammetric Analyzer (Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu, Sn, Bi, Mn, As, Se, Co, Fe, Ni, Cr, In, Pt, Os, K, Ca, Ba, Mo etc.)
Inventions & Patents
FORESTDOSE Information-Analytical System for the Evaluation of Exposure Doses of Individuals Involved in Wildfire Extinguishment. State Certificate no. С-0108-02-2015 of 23 March 2016.
FORESTFIRE Information-Analytical System for the Evaluation of Secondary Radioactive Contamination of Territories and Optimization of Fire Fighting Management. State Certificate no. В-0102-02-2014 of 15 March 2016.
Database on the concentrations of cesium-137, strontium-90 and transuranic elements in biological samples (organs and tissues of wild animals). R.A. Korol, A.A. Dvornik. National Information Resource Registry Registration Certificate no. 5871607963.
A.A. Dvornik, A.M. Dvornik, A.D. Naumov, A.V. Arhkangelsky. A furnace and sampling device for burning solid materials and taking samples for the analysis of substances present in the smoke. Useful Model Patent of the Republic of Belarus no. u20120421, 2013.
Publications
Dvornik, A.A. Potential threat to human health during forest fires in the Belarusian exclusion zone / A.A. Dvornik, A.M. Dvornik, R.A. Korol, N.V. Shamal, S.O. Gaponenko, A.V. Bardyukova // Aerosol Science and Technology. – 2018. – Vol. 52(8). – p. 923-932.
Ramzaev, V. A backpack γ-spectrometer for measurements of ambient dose equivalent rate, H˙∗(10), from 137Cs and from naturally occurring radiation: The importance of operator related attenuation / V. Ramzaev, C. Bernhardsson, A. Barkovsky, I. Romanovich, J. Jarneborn, S. Mattsson, A. Dvornik, S. Gaponenko // Radiation Measurements. – 2017. – Vol. 107. – p. 14–22.
Dvornik, A.A. Assessment of 137Cs contamination of combustion products and air pollution during the forest fires in zones of radioactive contamination / A.A. Dvornik, E.A. Klementeva, A.M. Dvornik // Radioprotection. – 2017. – 52(1). – p. 29-36.
Gaponenko, V.I. A comparative study of 40K versus 137Cs uptake as chemical analogs by vegetable plants at different concentrations of these nuclides in soil near the 30-km Chernobyl zone / V.I. Gaponenko, N.V. Shamal, A.N. Nikitin // Radioprotection. – 2016. – 51(1). – p. 25-30.
Contact details:
Phone number: +375232512248
e-mail: mimar@irb.basnet.by, aadvornik@gmail.com