The article is devoted to assessing the possible impact of the establishment of a regime of emergency zones (environmental disaster or pollution, including radioactive) on the socio-economic situation at the level of municipalities. The Bryansk oblast was chosen as a testing ground, which is characterized mainly by forestry and agricultural specialization, long-term stability of the administrative-territorial division and the fact of radioactive contamination of the territory as a result of the radiation accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986. To exclude the influence of crisis factors of the 1990s and 2008, the analysis of the socio-economic situation in municipalities is given in relative units compared to the average regional characteristics. Based on its results, a conclusion was made about the negative impact in the long term of the regimes of radioactive contamination zones on the state of economic activity of municipalities exposed to radioactive contamination. The main consequences of the regime of emergency zones for municipalities are manifested in negative demographic trends and the deterioration of the general economic condition. For the first time, a criterion has been proposed for lifting the regime of emergency zones for municipalities based on a composite index.

Purpose: Retrospective analysis of the process of defining the zones of radioactive contamination zones formed after the Chernobyl accident. Results: Summary of events related to liquidation of the Chernobyl NPP (ChNPP) accident consequences is given in the context of defining the radioactive contamination zones. Experience of zoning of the territories exposed to radioactive contamination due to the Chernobyl NPP accident during 1986–2015 in Belarus and the Russian Federation has revealed the following: - Zones of radioactive contamination as a result of the ChNPP accident have been finally defined by the regulatory-legal acts only by 1991 – in five years after the Chernobyl accident; - At present, the zones of radioactive contamination zones legally correspond to the borders of settlements that were given a certain status of the radioactively contaminated territory. This leads, in particular, to paradoxical "automatic" reduction of radioactive contamination zonesareas due to abolition of settlements with no inhabitants. Absence of the established borders of radioactive contamination zones creates difficulties in substantiation of the measures related to radiation monitoring, rehabilitation of radioactively contaminated areas and their return to economic circulation. Conclusions: Experience of eliminating mitigation of the Chernobyl NPP accident consequences shows that the absence of modern and scientifically justified procedures of defining the borders of radioactive contamination zones results not only in an inadequate assessment of the scales of consequences, but also does not allow effective differentiating the inventory and scale of necessary measures on population protection.

The article presents the results of a study of documents issued by the executive authorities and the CPSU bodies and stored in the funds of the state archives of Bryansk region. The documents deal with the issues of overcoming consequences of the Chernobyl accident in 1986-1993. The present study aims to analyze measures taken to develop a radiation safety system in Bryansk region. The article describes the structure of the database which includes documents issued by the executive authorities and the CPSU bodies on the impact of the Chernobyl accident in Bryansk region. Using the electronic copies of these documents, the database was created. The documents can be searched for and selected based on the relations with measures intended to overcome consequences of the Chernobyl accident, assessments of the socio-economic situation in Bryansk region and effectiveness of the managerial decisions.

Статья представляет сообщение об опыте информирования населения, в первую очередь, проживающего на радиоактивно загрязнённых территориях, о радиационной обстановке на основе межведомственного (МЧС России - Росгидромет - Роспотребнадзор) интернет-портала. Работа межведомственного интернет-портала включала в себя не только компонент информирования, но и формирование населением (студентами и школьниками при поддержке преподавательского состава) альтернативного контента о радиационном фоне в местах проживания. The article presents a report on the experience of informing the population, primarily those living in radioactively contaminated areas, about the radiation situation on the basis of an interdepartmental (EMERCOM of Russia - Roshydromet - Rospotrebnadzor) Internet portal. The work of the interdepartmental Internet portal included not only an information component, but also the formation by the population (students and schoolchildren with the support of the teaching staff) of alternative content about the radiation background in places of residence.