Previously contaminated lands in the Gomel Region will be put to economic use

2024-08-22 06:20:56

The plots of land in Kastrychnytskyi District, Gomel Oblast, with a total area of ​​16.6452 hectares, granted to the open joint-stock company “Maiseyevka”, excluded from radiation hazard and transferred to commercial use by the government decision. writes “See”.

Relevant resolution from the Council of Ministers (No. 605 dated August 20, 2024) published On August 22, the National Legal Portal.

According to the document, the district executive committee is tasked with monitoring the conditions of use of the said plots according to the expert opinion of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Local authorities will also monitor radioactive contamination of products produced on these lands.

The resolution takes effect from the day of its official publication.

The Ministry of Emergency Situations said on April 22 that the area of ​​Belarus contaminated with cesium-137 as a result of radioactive decay since the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has decreased by 1.8 times and is 25,5 square miles. km (12% of the country’s territory). cesium-137 at the level of 1 curie per square meter. km, 1.5 million hectares of forests and about 19 thousand hectares of agricultural land are polluted.

chemist-radiologist Siarhei Besarab i an interview “Pozhirku” noted that any economic activity on the polluted territories transfers radionuclides, which were chemically fixed in the soil, into a mobile state.

“Caesium-137 has a half-life of 30.17 years. 1.23 half-lives have passed. About half (43.53%) of the total mass ejected during the explosion remained, and the radioactivity became 2.35 times less. That is, in the territory where there was a lot of cesium, its activity decreased. Perhaps, and indeed, if we estimate by area, this reduction will be 1.8 times. The numbers are more or less correlated and there is no contradiction. But this practically means nothing, if only because cesium did not cease to exist, but simply went into the ground, was invisible,” he said.