Chapter 7: Radioactive Contamination of Lands and Possible Techniques for Their Rehabilitation

Radioactive contamination of natural and anthropogenic landscapes has become a significant factor in radionuclide uptake by humans since 20^th century. Contamination of soils by radionuclides occurs as a result of nuclear weapon tests, major radiation accidents, waste deposition, and using phosphate fertilizers with a high content of natural radionuclides. Various methods of rehabilitation of radioactively contaminated lands, such as plowing, liming, addition of sorbents, and addition of mineral and organic fertilizers, as well as phytoremediation techniques, have been developed. Among them, elimination of the upper soil layer and phytoremediation allow decreasing the real activity of a soil but generate secondary radioactive waste, whereas the other methods are focused on suppression of radionuclide transfer from soil to plants. Plowing the upper soil layer to deeper horizons and using ferrocyanide sorbents result in the maximum decrease in radionuclide transfer to plants among the developed methods.