Justification of remediation strategies in the long term after the Chernobyl accident

Following the accident at the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl a number of different remedial actions were developed and implemented in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. Recommendations on the application of countermeasures and remedial actions were published by the IAEA as “Guidelines for agricultural countermeasures following an accidental release of radionuclides” in 1994. Since then, new information on the behaviour of radionuclides in the environment and effectiveness of countermeasures in the long term has been obtained and reviewed by many projects, including the Chernobyl Forum. Additionally, new approaches to derive remediation strategies were developed and successfully implemented in the most affected countries. This paper describes a justification of the remediation strategies suggested for rehabilitation of the areas most affected by the Chernobyl accident based on this experience.