Mitigation of Radioactive Contamination from Farmland Environment and Agricultural Products

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (07) ◽  
pp. 454-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takuro Shinano
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Ferrucci ◽  
Chiara Telloli

<p>After the release of high levels of radioactivity into the environment, one of the main concern relates the contamination foodstuffs. In some exposure scenarios the transfer of radionuclides through the food chain to consumers represents a major contribution to human dose. Therefore an accurate estimation of radionuclide activity concentrations in agricultural products is crucial to evaluate the ingestion dose to the population consuming locally produced food. There are many mechanisms contributing to the radioacive contamination of agricultural products as interception, retention, absorption and translocation, due to mechanisms as deposition to the exposed plant surfaces, and/or root uptake. In the last decades several efforts have been spent in developing mathematical models to predict the potential transfers of radionuclides in plants and their concentration in the edible parts. Nevertheless the relative significance of each pathway depends on a large amount of variables and parameters that increase the complexity of the models, moreover the lack of expermental data, often limit the possibility to make any meaningful results. The main aspect that make difficult to predict the uptake of radionuclides by plants is the dynamic nature of the contamination scenarios due primarly to the the growing of plants. Nevertheless, there are some factors that can be considered as ‘static’ for each specific geographic area, and each specific radionuclide, as the soil characteristics, the type of crop, and the behavour of some radionuclides in the environment. In the framework of a preliminary safety assessment of a radioactive release scenario, these factors could be taken as reference indicators of the potential impact on the local human food chain radioactive contamination. In this work we focus on the analysis of the scientific literature pertaining to all experimntal studies in radionuclide plant uptake, from 2000 to 2020. The aims of this analysis is to collect set of some characteristics allowing to classify, in a macroscopic scale, specific reference indicators that most contribute to the radioactive contamination of agricultural products in different geographyc areas.</p>


2016 ◽  
pp. 112-120
Author(s):  
B. Prister ◽  
V. Pronevych

The features of formation radiation situation in agricultural production in the areas contaminated by the Chernobyl accident were considered. On the basis of the summarized post-accident experience, assessment was made of the effectiveness of countermeasures to reduce the level of radioactive contamination of agricultural products. The current problems and scientific challenges to support agricultural production in the area of radioactive contamination in the remote period after the accident were formulated. It is shown that the use of modern technology and employing profitable agricultural production is the best way of rehabilitation contaminated areas. Natural processes of rehabilitation will not help to normalize the radiation situation theretore carrying out countermeasures in contaminated areas is vital. The developed technologies are the most effective which make it possible to carry out targeted countermeasures in individual households and small arrays. Monitoring the distribution of radioactive pollution, behavior of radionuclides in the related environment and forecast of their migration allows developing and implementing the most reasonable management decisions to improve the radioecological situation.


2016 ◽  
pp. 121-126
Author(s):  
L. Raychuk ◽  
O. Hrynyk

Current status and problems of agricultural production on radioactively contaminated areas of Kyiv Polissya have been analyzed. It has been found that the Chernobyl disaster led to significant changes in specialization of agricultural production in both plant growing and animal husbandry. Such traditional regional industries as flax, hop etc completely collapsed. Most of the livestock sectors, especially dairy cattle, have become unprofitable due to abnormal production contamination and negative ecological image of the region. Large companies have become the most competitive in conditions of Kyiv Polissya. The most effective countermeasures have been identified and initial steps to obtain the radioecologically safe agricultural products on the affected by the Chernobyl disaster areas have been developed. Specialization of agricultural production, depending on the level of radioactive contamination has been improved. Agricultural enterprises of the region are not able to carry out the recommended measures in full because of lack of funds. Therefore, there is necessity to introduce the economic incentives for farmers, which will provide comprehensive implementation of a number of economic, environmental, administrative, social and psychological operations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. 1274-1285
Author(s):  
Ryota Koyama ◽  
William D. Y. McMichael ◽  
◽  

This paper overviews the achievements and challenges of radioactive contamination countermeasures, food inspection systems, and reputational damage to agricultural products in Fukushima Prefecture during the early stages of the Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear disaster. It outlines the effectiveness of early countermeasures such as absorption control measures and soil decontamination, and observes how efforts aimed at revitalizing afflicted areas were initiated and advanced primarily through the leadership of residents and agricultural producers. Furthermore, it examines food inspection systems such as the “all-bag-all-volume” testing system for rice that was implemented in Fukushima, and suggests that a failure to extend such countermeasures to outside of Fukushima Prefecture was a contributing factor to the ongoing issue of reputational damage and consumer reluctance to purchase products from the area. Lastly, the paper categorizes early consumer trends in four groups based on differing perceptions of risk and safety, and concludes that dealing with reputational damage should entail creating maps of radioactive material distribution, and also building a rational inspection system that allows consumers to objectively identify the safety of agricultural products.


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