Journal
FIRE-SWITZERLAND
Volume 5, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/fire5010002
Keywords
Chernobyl Exclusion Zone; climate change; fuel management; hazardous smoke; nuclear disasters; nuclear wildfires; radioactive contamination
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The Perspective highlights the risks posed by wildfires that release radioactive material originally deposited into the environment by nuclear disasters. As wildfires occur more frequently due to climate change and land use changes, nuclear wildfires have become a pressing yet little discussed issue that requires urgent attention.
This Perspective highlights the lingering consequences of nuclear disasters by examining the risks posed by wildfires that rerelease radioactive fallout originally deposited into the environment by accidents at nuclear power plants or testing of nuclear weapons. Such wildfires produce uncontainable, airborne, and hazardous smoke, which potentially carries radioactive material, thus becoming the specter of the original disaster. As wildfires occur more frequently with climate change and land use changes, nuclear wildfires present a pressing yet little discussed problem among wildfire management and fire scholars. The problem requires urgent attention due to the risks it poses to the health and wellbeing of wildland firefighters, land stewards, and smoke-impacted communities. This Perspective explains the problem, outlines future research directions, suggests potential solutions, and underlines the broader benefits of mitigating the risks.
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