SC scientist’s research at Chernobyl faces trouble if Russians invade Ukraine

In the years after his first trip to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site, scientist Tim Mousseau made a series of eye-opening discoveries about wildlife in the area: Birds had developed tumors, butterfly populations were suffering, and some animals had genetic damage.

Mousseau, a University of South Carolina researcher, was among the first to document the toxic, long-term effects of the 1986 accident on the environment – and his efforts have made him one of the foremost authorities on how radiation affected wildlife at Chernobyl.

But an international dispute threatens to set back Mousseau’s ongoing research. Russia is upset that Ukraine is becoming too friendly with the United States and western Europe, stoking fears of an invasion that could put scientific work on hold.

Chernobyl, in northern Ukraine, could be shut down or scaled back as a research area if Russia sends troops across the border.

One of the most direct worries for scientists is that Russia could invade Ukraine through Chernobyl, a possibility outlined in a Jan. 23 New York Times story. The shortest route for the Russians to Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, is through Chernobyl, the newspaper reported.

Russian troops marching through the area could not only limit access by scientists but also trample the landscape where research is ongoing. Already, Ukrainian troops are on guard near Chernobyl. But even if Russia were to invade another part of Ukraine, the aftershocks would still be felt at Chernobyl, Mousseau said.

“Any kind of military conflict would be very, very disruptive,’’ said Mousseau, who has been to Chernobyl more than 40 times since he began studying the area in 1999.

Reached while on a research trip in Belize, Mousseau told The State this week he had hoped to return to Chernobyl soon, but Russian President Vladimir Putin’s demands have stymied those plans.

“I wasn’t concerned until about six months ago,’’ he said. “Then I realized this is turning for the worst. We have someone who desperately wants to maintain some sort of political superiority and who has behaved in a very aggressive way in the past, and who appears poised to do the same thing again.’’

Mousseau’s unfinished studies include determining how radiation has affected feral dogs in Chernobyl; documenting the number of large animals that frequent the area; and how radiation from the 1986 disaster impacts area vegetation, the latter of which is of keen interest to the United States space agency NASA.

A Russian invasion places uncertainty on what would happen to a research laboratory and equipment set up at Chernobyl. The research lab is a converted village home that Mousseau and co-workers use to conduct experiments on the Chernobyl site. He has about 100 research cameras set up near the failed Chernobyl nuclear plant and five staff members working at the site.

Widely regarded work

A patient, soft-spoken researcher, Mousseau is widely quoted in news stories and documentaries about the long-term harm the Chernobyl disaster has brought to animals. He has been featured in an array of national publications, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, and national television broadcasts about his experiences at Chernobyl.

Because of his knowledge about Chernobyl, he also has been sought after to discuss the radiation fallout at Fukushima, Japan, site of a major nuclear plant accident in 2011. That year, CNN and other media outlets interviewed him.

In the past two decades, he and co-researchers have written about 130 scientific papers on the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters.

The Chernobyl disaster, considered the worst nuclear accident in history, occurred April 25, 1986, when an atomic reactor burst into flames, spewing massive amounts of radiation across the landscape. The radiation released was several times higher than the amount generated by atomic bombs dropped on Japan in World War II. The accident killed nuclear workers and forced at least 30,000 people living nearby to flea, leaving behind their belongings in what would become a ghost town.

Today, scores of buildings are abandoned, crumbling and overgrown with weeds.

Although many animals survived the accident and wildlife continues to live there, multiple species have been hurt by exposure to consistent lower doses of radiation, Mousseau has learned.

He and co-researchers have found that many birds exposed to radiation had abnormal coloration, bent tails, tumors on their beaks and eyes, and deformed lips. Some birds in the Chernobyl area had substantially more abnormalities than in other parts of Europe, the research has found.

The research also discovered that many species of animals in the more highly contaminated areas have dwindled. Those species range from butterflies, bumblebees and spiders to an array of mammals, including three types of deer.

Some research indicates that radiation could affect animals’ abilities to reproduce. The research efforts also show what to expect if another accident occurs, and they could be indicators of how humans exposed to consistent doses of radiation over time would be affected.

Mousseau’s efforts have been a source of pride at the University of South Carolina, which through the years has sent several contingents of high-level staff members to visit the Chernobyl nuclear site.

Among those was one-time USC health school dean Harris Pastides, who later became president of the university. Rudy Mancke, a South Carolina naturalist who once had an educational television show about the environment, filmed an episode at Chernobyl in 2003 while visiting with a USC contingent.

“It is important to USC to have world-renowned research in such an unusual and specific area,’’ said Sherry Beasley, a one-time university consultant and language interpreter on the trips to Chernobyl. “When Tim publishes those papers, or appears on television programming, he’s identified as a University of South Carolina professor. That automatically gives cache to the university.’’

Mousseau, a Canadian with dual U.S. citizenship, arrived at South Carolina in 1991 from the University of California-Davis. Much of his work at Chernobyl has been done with another scientist, Anders Pape Moller.

Like Mousseau, Beasley is paying close attention to the possibility of a Russian invasion.

“It would be horrible,’’ she said. “It would make it more difficult for researchers like Tim to continue, at least in the short run.’’

Detained in Russia

Mousseau said he hopes the worst doesn’t come true and the research can continue. But he knows how Russia treated him during a scientific trip about 15 years ago.

After he mistakenly crossed an unmarked stretch of the Russian border with Ukraine during a day of field research, a militia force detained Mousseau and his traveling party, accusing them of being spies.

Mousseau and several colleagues were kept in a Russian jail for a night, guarded by troops wielding machine guns. He refused to sign a confession, making for a tense, uncomfortable experience.

Eventually, his group managed to persuade the Russians to let them go after spending three days in custody.

“We were released after it became clear we were not CIA spies,’’ he said.

Of all the research that’s underway, the project Mousseau is conducting with NASA may be the most affected.

The space agency, which has sponsored the work, wants to know more about radiation tolerant plants. The work could help NASA learn what type of crops could be grown as a source of food for astronauts traveling through space, where radiation levels are high, and to Mars. New varieties of crops could be developed as a result of the research.

Mousseau had planned to grow certain plants in contaminated areas as part of the research project, but that could be delayed.

California researcher Andrea Bonisoli Alquati, a former co-worker of Mousseau’s who has visited Chernobyl, said he’s also concerned about how a military invasion of Ukraine might affect research.

But he said Mousseau might be able to continue his studies if an invasion occurs because he is well-versed on international relations. Bonisoli Alquati is a former post doctoral fellow at Carolina who ran Mousseau’s research lab about eight years ago. He now is an assistant professor at Cal Poly Pomona.

“Tim is a highly capable, smart individual, and really sort of like a wise fox,’’ Bonisoli-Alquati said. “I think maybe he can get around this to continue his research, no matter what. ‘’