High (36)Cl/Cl ratios in Chernobyl groundwater.

After the explosion of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in April 1986, contaminated material was buried in shallow trenches within the exclusion zone. A (90)Sr plume was evidenced downgradient of one of these trenches, trench T22. Due to its conservative properties, (36)Cl is investigated here as a potential tracer to determine the maximal extent of the contamination plume from the trench in groundwater.