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Researchers used synchrotron X-ray diffraction to analyze six radioactive particles released in the 1986 Chernobyl accident. The fuel crystal structures remained largely intact, suggesting these particles may retain radioactive fission products, but the small sample cannot establish how particles behave across the region or determine health risks.
Researchers examining six radioactive particles released by the 1986 Chernobyl reactor accident found that the particles’ nuclear-fuel crystal structures remain largely intact after about 40 years. The findings, published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials, suggest the fragments may retain radioactive fission products, but the limited sample does not show how stable such particles are across the wider exclusion zone or establish the health risks they pose.
The particles, each about 8 to 50 micrometers across, were collected from soil at two locations in Ukraine. Researchers from Leibniz University Hannover and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) isolated the fragments, mounted them on tungsten electrodes, and studied their internal structures using synchrotron X-ray diffraction at the Rossendorf Beamline in Grenoble.
The team turned each particle through an X-ray beam and measured it from 2,000 angles to capture its diffraction pattern. This enabled the researchers to identify different uranium-oxide phases in the samples. The study is described as the first successful structural investigation of this kind on highly radioactive fragments, according to the report.
The researchers found that the fuel’s crystal structure had remained largely intact, indicating greater chemical stability in the examined particles than previously assumed. The authors say that stability could mean the particles hold on to fission products rather than releasing them quickly. But they stress that every particle had a different structure, and six fragments from two sites are not enough to characterize all particles or their environmental behavior.
What Particle Stability Could Mean
The findings may help scientists improve estimates of how radioactive material moves from fuel fragments into surrounding soil and water. If some particles retain fission products, their release may differ from estimates based on more readily weathering uranium compounds. That could inform future assessments of environmental contamination and potential exposure, while not resolving either question on its own.
The result is not evidence that the particles are harmless. Their persistence may mean that some radioactive material remains contained for longer, but particles can vary, and researchers warn that more persistent fragments could release radionuclides later. Assessing risk requires information about the number and types of particles, their distribution, how they change over time, and how people might encounter them. The study measures the structures of a small set; it does not directly measure human exposure or health outcomes.
The work also gives researchers a method for studying individual, highly radioactive fragments whose small size makes conventional structural analysis difficult. Better characterization could help distinguish particle types and estimate their differing rates of radioactive-material release. For now, the study’s practical contribution is a new measurement of six fragments, not a revised safety assessment for the region.
synchrotron X-ray diffraction instrument
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How Chernobyl Fuel Particles Formed
The 1986 reactor accident scattered radioactive debris beyond the destroyed reactor. The resulting “hot particles” are not all alike. Physicist and doctoral candidate Tobias Weissenborn describes three broad types: particles resembling uranium-dioxide fuel; particles partly or fully enclosed in, or fused with, zirconium; and particles formed when the graphite moderator burned and the fuel oxidized.
Some oxidized uranium compounds, including U₃O₈, are mechanically unstable and can form fine particles that wind may carry. The different origins and compositions help explain why particles may weather at different rates. Until this study, the report says, researchers had not successfully carried out this kind of structural phase analysis on individual highly radioactive fragments. The research paper by Weissenborn and colleagues was published in 2026 in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.
“Every single particle has a different structure.”
— Tobias Weissenborn, physicist and doctoral candidate at Leibniz University Hannover
What Six Samples Cannot Establish
The study examined only six particles from two locations. Researchers say many more fragments from a wider range of sites would be needed to estimate how common the observed structures are and how particle stability varies across the region. The findings do not establish an average release rate for all Chernobyl particles.
It also remains unclear how the observed structural stability will translate into long-term release of radionuclides under different environmental conditions. The report warns that outlier particles may persist and release material later. The study does not assess direct health effects, quantify exposure, or provide grounds for lifting access restrictions in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
Broader Sampling and Follow-Up Tests
Weissenborn and Hennig are conducting follow-up experiments on transuranic phases found in the accident remnants, according to the report. The researchers say a clearer picture of particle behavior will require analysis of many more samples from additional locations.
Further measurements could help establish how often different structures occur and how they change over time. Until that evidence is available, the six-particle result should be treated as a finding about the analyzed fragments, not a general forecast for contaminated soil, water, or human health. The report says existing restrictions on the exclusion zone will not be lifted on the basis of this study.
Key Questions
What did the researchers find in the Chernobyl particles?
In six particles, researchers found that the nuclear-fuel crystal structure remained largely intact roughly 40 years after the 1986 accident. They also identified different uranium-oxide phases.
Does the study show that Chernobyl particles are safe?
No. The study examined particle structure, not human health outcomes or exposure. The researchers say the small sample cannot establish regional health risks, and some particles may release radionuclides later.
How were the particles analyzed?
The team used synchrotron X-ray diffraction, rotating each particle in a focused X-ray beam and measuring it from 2,000 angles to map its internal crystal structure.
Why are more samples needed?
The six fragments came from just two locations, and each had a different structure. More samples from more sites are needed to assess how representative the result is and how particle behavior varies.
Will the findings change access rules for the exclusion zone?
The report says the findings do not support lifting restrictions. The study is too limited to make universal claims about particle behavior or health risks across the region.
Source: hn
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