Radioactive contamination as a type of soil degradation

Abstract

Radioactive contamination of soils is considered as a separate type of degradation decreasing their fertility. Natural soil radioactivity is described. The main sources of technogenic radionuclides for the soil cover (global radionuclide fallout after nuclear weapons tests, the operation of nuclear facilities, radioactive waste) were shown. The phytomelioration of soils containing radionuclides was assessed. Issues were analyzed related to the remediation of agricultural soils after radiation accidents associated with the release of radionuclides into the environment: the discharge of radionuclides into the Techa River (1949–1953) and the Kyshtym (Southern Urals, 1957), Windscale (United Kingdom, 1957), and Chernobyl (Ukraine, 1986) accidents. The hazard of radioactive contamination of the soil-plant cover was assessed from two viewpoints: the anthropocentric (sanitary-hygienic) principle, when the degree of radioactive contamination of agricultural crops and the conformity of their radionuclide content to radiological standards are taken into account (maximum permissible concentrations of radionuclides), on the one hand, and the ecocentric (biospheric, environmental) approach, when the consequences of the irradiation of soil biota and living terrestrial organisms caused by radionuclides present in the soils are taken into account (conformity to the radiation standards and permissible radiation doses), on the other hand. For some technogenic radionuclides, the use of these principles for assessing the hazard of radioactive contamination of the soil was exemplified, which is of importance for determining the rehabilitation strategy of agricultural lands contaminated with radionuclides.