Radiation legacy of the 20th century: Environmental restoration

Nuclear weapons making and testing, operation of enterprises of the nuclear industry, of military and civilian nuclear fleet, as well as peaceful nuclear explosions – all that led in the USSR to release of radioactive products into the environment. In some parts of the FSU radioactive contamination exceeded permissible levels. The necessity of remediation of such territories became evident. The most part of the contamination resulted from major radiation accidents in Kyshtym (19570 and Chernobyl (1986). Today those objects, as well as some sites of radwaste storage and disposal, written-off nuclear submarines with non-unloaded spent nuclear fuel, some floating and on-shore repositories of nuclear fleet’s radwaste and spent nuclear fuel, pose a potential hazard to the biosphere. Appropriate measures aimed at decreasing their impact on the population and environment are needed. Such measures should include both restoration of contaminated lands and social support programs for the population affected by radiation. The main task of the rehabilitation is reduction of consequences of internal and external exposure of the people, creation of necessary conditions for efficient and safe economical activities. Concrete objectives should be determined, as well as principles and standards to ensure radiation safety when conducting remediation works, and also – specifications for evaluation of the lands condition prior to their remediation, criteria of decisionmaking, rehabilitation planning, techniques of the lands’ restoration and recommendations for their future uses. The Russian Federal special program “Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Materials Management, Utilization and Disposal for 1996–2005” envisages studies on Russia’s radiation legacy’s assessment on the basis of up-to-date information technologies of computer-based systems for data collection, storage and processing for accounting and analysis of information on availability, origin, physical & chemical characteristics, location of radioactive materials on the territory of Russia. In the last years the works were carried out successfully within the framework of the International Science & Technology Center # 101 KURGAN and # 245 RADLEG and of some other international and national projects.