Assessment of the potential of willow SRC plants for energy production in areas contaminated by radionuclide deposits: methodology and perspectives

The objective of this paper is to assess the suitability of willow short rotation coppice (SRC) as land use alternative for farmland contaminated by radiocaesium ( 137Cs) fallout from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. The Polessie district, a typical rural area located close to Chernobyl, was chosen as reference for the development of a GIS-based multidisciplinary approach combining maps of soil resources and 137Cs deposits, modelling of SRC biomass production and estimations of 137Cs soil-to-wood transfer. From an agronomic viewpoint, the very dry sandy podzolic soils in the reference area are not suitable for SRC growing because they cannot supply adequate water for SRC during the early summer period. Moreover, on the other soil types, both careful weeding and water supply during the early months after plantation are required, until both leaf cover and root system are sufficiently developed. From the radio-ecological viewpoint, and according to the local legislation, the SRC biomass produced on loamy sand, sandy loam and loamy soils is suitable for firewood. SRC biomass from the highly productive peaty soils (39.4% of the land area of Polessie) may also be used but only if its conversion into heat or electricity is carefully managed. From an economic viewpoint, due to the very low local prices for fossil fuels, the gasification of SRC wood is at present not economically competitive with fossil fuels in Ukraine. Only strong political will and incentives could favour the implementation of bioenergy routes through subsidies and a major reorganisation of the energy market.