Soil-radioecological zoning of radioactively contaminated agricultural lands of Belarus and Russia

The paper presents the methodology of soil and radioecological zoning of agricultural lands exposed to radioactive contamination resulted from the Chernobyl accident. The ranking of agricultural lands is based on the composition and degree of soil contamination by radionuclides, as well as the composition and a specific gravity of soils, their properties (genetic affiliation, particle size distribution, hydromorphism, degree of erosion) and fertility level. The paper justifies the allocation as a typological unit of classification of agricultural lands, which is a district of a region. Also, developed an algorithm for the zoning of radioactively contaminated territories, which includes 7 stages. On the basis of a comprehensive assessment of soil and radiological factors, the agricultural lands were ranked within Belarussian and Russian regions, which were mostly affected by the Chernobyl accident. In Belarus and Russia, distinguished 4 and 3 groups of districts according to the degree of radioecological tension, respectively. In Belarus, the first group with a low degree of territorial tension is represented by 29 districts of six regions. The second group with an average degree of tension includes 9 districts of four regions. The third group with a high degree of tension is made up of 12 districts of three regions and the fourth group with a very high degree of radioecological tension of the territory consists of 7 districts of the Gomel region. In Russia, the first group includes one district of the Oryol region. The second group consists of 3 southern districts of the Kaluga region and one district of the Tula region. The third group includes 5 districts of the Bryansk region. It is shown that the optimisation of the radiation protection system of the population and the phased transition of the radioactively contaminated territories from the situation of emergency exposure to the situation of existing post-emergency exposure should be carried out differentially, depending on the group of districts.