Early detection of deep-seated smouldering fires in wood waste storage using ERT.

Incidents of waste and biofuel fires are common at all stages of the waste recycling chain and have grave implications for business, employees, firefighters, society, and environment. An early detection of waste and biofuel fires in the smouldering stage could save precious lives, resources, and our environment. Existing fire detection methodologies e.

Influence of variable oxygen concentration on the combustion derived release of radiocesium from boreal soil and peat.

Radiocesium, Cs, is one of the most common and dispersed human-made radionuclides. Substantial stocks of Cs are stored in organic layers, like soils and peat, as a consequence of nuclear weapons fallout and accidental releases. As climate warming progresses these organic layers are subject to enhanced risks of wildfires, especially in the vast boreal biome of the northern hemisphere.

Experimental wildfire induced mobility of radiocesium in a boreal forest environment.

Wildfires are expected to increase with warmer climate, which can contribute to the mobility and the resuspension of long-lived and potentially hazardous radionuclides. The release of Cs during combustion of dried litter, forest floor organic soil, and peat was investigated in a small-scale experimental set-up. Combustion conditions were varied to simulate different wildfire scenarios, and the fuels were dried organic material collected in a boreal environment of Sweden that was contaminated following the Chernobyl accident in 1986.