About Defining the Borders of Radioactive Contamination Zones as a Result of Large Radiation Accidents. Message II. The Principled Approach

Abstract

Purpose: Development of methods of establishing the borders of radioactive contamination caused by major radiation accidents.
 Material and Methods: Approaches for establishing Radioactive Contamination Zones (RCZ) and defining their borders are proposed based on the notion of a ‘RCZ’s accounting unit’. An area representing a generalized land plot, settlement, forestry and/or water body (i.e. minimum registration units of: the State Cadastre, the Administrative-Territorial Classifiers, the State Forest Registry, and the State Water Register) is proposed to be taken as the RCZ’s accounting unit. 
 Results: The basic formal procedure provides for identification of the RCZ status for each contaminated area based on the condition of intervention level (criterion) excess by the relevant radiation-situation index. When developing a regulatory document on RCZ establishment, a list of land plots and settlements is drawn up with indication of the RCZ status (rank), the plot’s category and its unique number. Using information about the plot borders, a list of coordinates of characteristic points located at RCZ borders ranked by the RCZ status is made. Such a list may constitute an integral part of the relevant regulatory-and-legal document that establishes RCZ borders. 
 Conclusions: Taking of a land plot, settlement, forestry or water body as the ‘RCZ’s accounting unit’ enables RCZ’s establishment and determination of their borders using simple formal procedures and a specified number of indices. The RCZs can be presented as cumulative lists of cadastral plots and settlements, whereas their boundaries via the relevant descriptions of boundaries of the plots having different RCZ status.