Method for assessment of risks for agroecosystems exposed to radiation as a result of radiological events

The paper presents new method for assessment of radiation related risk for agroecosystems exposed to radiation following radiological events. The following criteria were chosen for risk evaluation: features of radioactive pollutant, sensitivity of critical components of an agrosystem, crop loss. Evaluating of agroecological risks is a multistep process: harm identification, i.e. identification of sources of radioactive pollution and critical components of an agrosystem; estimating effects of radiation exposure, measuring or calculating intensity and duration of exposure to radiation, estimating dose-response relationship, i.e. quantifying the relationship between the level of radiation exposure and negative response of agroecosystems, identifying risk features, i.e. risk classification and estimating of risk compliance to acceptable ecological levels using criteria of radiosensitivity of critical components of agroecosystem. Approaches to the realization of the developed method using mathematical modeling are considered. Applicability of the method for calculating risk for agricultural plants following radioactive pollution with 137Cs is demonstrated. The developed method can be used as the basis for developing guidelines and recommendations for evaluating radiation risk for agroecosystems. The developed method is intended for researchers and specialists of agroindustrial complex involved in environment protection, control and prediction of the environment prediction.