COUNTERMEASURES IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AS AN EFFECTIVE MEANS OF MITIGATING THE RADIOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT

In the wake of the Chernobyl accident of 1986, the implementation of a variety of protective measures in agriculture has been the most effective means of reducing the total radiation dose of the population; reduction of external radiation by soil decontamination is much less cost effective. As a result of the agricultural countermeasures, internal doses have been decreased by a factor of approximately three. In Russia, these countermeasures resulted in a decrease of Cs-137 accumulation in arable crops by a factor of about 2.3 and in pastures of about 2.8. Reduction of radiocaesium in herbage is one of the most importance factors, since this results in a reduction of Cs-137 in milk - the main source of radiation dose in the human diet. Countermeasures used on grazing land included ploughing, liming, application of fertilisers etc. Cs-137 in plant crops can be decreased 5-10 times by changing the type of crops cultivated. In natural meadows and pastures and on arable soils without the benefit of treatment, it has been observed that plant uptake of Cs-137 decreased with time. The efficiency of different protective measures in agriculture has been assessed in the accident-affected zone.