Radiological Efficiency of Agricultural Countermeasures Applied in Radiocontaminated Fields

Abstract

Implementation of agricultural countermeasures is one of the principal methods that allow to decrease irradiation doses. Summarizing available information about countermeasures and taking into account the experience in the elimination of the nuclear accident consequences, it is demonstrated that the most widespread countermeasures after the Chernobyl accident were soil ameliorations. These methods are simple, inexpensive and effective in reducing radionuclide transfer from the soil to agricultural crops. Among the above mentioned methods, agrotechnical countermeasures were the most applicable, decreasing the contamination of plant products up to 20 times. Radical and surface improvements of natural and semi‐natural meadows were carried out on a large scale on contaminated lands. The biggest decrease of vegetation contamination was observed after the radical improvement of meadows, with and without drainage, 43 and 16 times, respectively. Other effective measures are agrochemical methods. In fact the application of various fertilizers permitted to decrease the radioactive contamination of production averagely 2–3 times. Potassium fertilizers were the most effective for the decrease of 137Cs transfer to harvested crops. Application of sorbing minerals decreased 137Cs transfer to crops from a peaty soil up to 11 times, and from a sod‐podzolic soil up to 3 times. Moreover, these countermeasures increased the yield and improved the quality of products.

Assessment of successful experiments and limitations of phytotechnologies: contaminant uptake, detoxification and sequestration, and consequences for food safety

“…Biofortification using soil microorganisms is frequently unsuccessful (Marchetti 2008). Dietary radiological doses for Cs and Sr can be reduced through appropriate crop choice, site-specific factors, and chemical amendments (Perepelyatnikov et al 2007). Peeling roots exposed to soil PAHs can substantially reduce (up to 97% for PCBs) the load in carrots, but evidence for the penetration of lower molecular mass PAHs deep into their root tissues has been found .…”