Justification for remediation of arable soils contaminated with radionuclides

We cannot exclude that in some sites of Russia contaminated with radionuclides following the Chernobyl accident the level of radioactivity in agricultural goods can exceed national radiologic standards. This is the reason to perform ecologically justified and economically feasible remediation of contaminated soils. The most effective method to reduce the transfer of radionuclides from soil to plants is applying a complex of mineral and organic fertilizers to agricultural land. In recent years actions undertaken for decontamination of soil were insufficient. In this connection it is necessary to continue the work and optimize remediation for these areas with regard to quality of the produce and economic indicators. For practical use the decision support system was designed, it allows farmers to estimate ecological and economic effectiveness of technologies used for improving radioactively contaminated soils. The article presents description and analysis of alternative remedial technologies for their use in crop and forage farms on radio-contaminated soils by the following criteria: factor of reduction of radionuclides level in the produce (radioecological effectiveness), increase in productivity, cost of remediation (economic effectiveness), volume of used ameliorants. Ecological and economic effectiveness of remediation is illustrated by the example of its use in crop and forage farms located in the most radio-contaminated south part of Kaluga oblast.