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Review of the monograph by A.D. Fokin and S.P. Torshin “Plants in the Life of Soils and Terrestrial Ecosystems. Nontraditional Approaches and Solutions on the Behavior of Biologically Significant Elements” published in 2020 by Lap Lambert Academic Publishing, ISBN 978-620-2-53005-7. In the monograph by A.D. Fokin and S.P. Torshin, the reader finds an original and not always traditional for soil scientists, consideration and discussion of a number of fundamental problems of the development of a soil profile and modern soil functioning and of the role of plants and microorganisms in these processes. The authors of the monograph make us think about the validity of some generally accepted concepts and hypothesis, especially those concerning transport flows of matter in soils and their modeling. Attention is drawn to the usually underestimated role of the uplifting – ascending fluxes of matter along the conductive systems of plants, and to the localization of living roots and organic residues in soils. The latter factor plays an important role in the development of intrahorizontal differentiation of the soil material and in the root nutrition of plants. The great advantage of the book is the availability of abundant experimental material obtained by unique methods developed by the authors, simple and effective, which have no analogues in the world literature. Application of these methods, allows, in particular, determining the lifetime of the aggregate in soddy-podzolic soils and establishing the trends in the root uptake of radionuclides from the surface and from the inner part of peds. In the end a general conclusion is formulated that in the course of modern soil functioning, the soil-profile redistribution of matter is performed mainly within the limits of the biological cycle of elements. Many of the problems and ideas discussed in the monograph go far beyond the soil science, therefore the book is of great interest for a wide range of specialists in environmental and plant sciences, in agricultural chemistry, forestry and in various branches of geosciences.

This article deals with some modern international legal problems of nuclear safety and radiation protection in the process of peaceful atomic activity. Special attention is paid to legal mechanisms of safe development of atomic power engineering in the conditions imminent energy crises.The scope of the study included as well as following questions: non-proliferation, prevent switching to peaceful nuclear activity for military purposes; prospect of development the Nuclear doctrine of Russian Federation; evaluating the feasibility of implementation into the practice of international relations State politics of Russian Federation in the field of nuclear deterrence, approved by the decree of the President of Russian Federation of June 2, 2020.The subject of research were legal problems standing in the way legal settlement international relations in conditions of globalization.

The aim of the study is to analyze the accumulated data on the study of forest territories of the border regions of the Bryansk region that have been exposed to radioactive contamination for their involvement in economic activity, as well as the possible transfer of radioactive materials in forest fires. The area of recorded and unaccounted forests was estimated according to the “Forest Plan of the Bryansk Region for the period 2019-2028” and the results of the analysis of remote sensing data of the earth, the assessment of radiation pollution – according to the radiation surveys of the forest fund and radioecological monitoring of forests, assessment of cesium-137 content – according to radiation monitoring. In the course of the work, the dynamics of the transition of forests from the range of a high level of radioactive contamination to lower ones from 1991 to 2018 slightly changes the total area of contaminated forests by regions was revealed. Top-level values of cesium-137 content in the main types of forest combustible materials, which a dangerous factor is contributing to a significant increase in the content of radiocesium in atmospheric air and the transfer of radionuclides beyond the limits of radioactive contamination zones in a forest fire. The most radiation-hazardous is the forest litter, which contains more than 70% of the total cesium-137 reserve in forest combustible materials, the values of which reach values of 224 kBq / kg in the Krasnogorsk district of the Bryansk region. The obtained forecast of cesium-137 content in the forest litter by the zones of radioactive contamination of forests in the most polluted areas of the Bryansk region for the period up to 2046 indicates the preservation of a high degree of radioactive contamination of forests in the Krasnogorsk and Novozybkovsky districts after more than 60 years after the Chernobyl accident power plants. Due to the high class of natural fire hazard of forests in the south-west of the Bryansk region and the high risk of fires in contaminated areas, it is necessary to assess the degree of danger in the prevention and suppression of radioactive forest fires, especially criterion of the absorbed dose for workers in order to avoid the deterministic effect.

The article provides data on the radiation situation on research results 2008and 2014 in the area adjacent to the site of the peaceful nuclear explosion “Globus-1” before the rehabilitation works (2014—2015), made with a view to removing accidental contamination. The results of the analysis of the dynamics of changes of the radiation situation during the period from 2008 to 2014 year and assess the radiological situation on basic indicators: the values of the dose of technogenic radionuclides content in soil, water and other objects in the environment. On the basis of the research shows that the radiation situation on the territory of the “Globuc-1” has not undergone significant changes from 2008 onwards. An additional dose of man-made exposure of individuals from the population is formed mainly due to external irradiation provided temporary residence on the territory with elevated levels of gamma radiation. As a result of work performed by sealing research wells decreased stem onto the surface of the water with high concentrations of cesium-137, strontium-90 and tritium. Radioactive contamination of the soil to a depth of 1 m, studied in the year 2014, is estimated at 2200 m3 and can be classified as very active and low-level radioactive wastes for which allowed a near-surface burial. Because of the inaccessibility of the area for the removal of soil and remoteness from populated areas considered advisable to arrange the near-surface burial of contaminated soil () directly on the premises of the site.

The article discusses problematic issues related to the implementation of the environmental management and its specific features in forestry in the radioactively contaminated territories of Ukraine. The modern requirements and recommendations of regulatory documents of Ukraine and the EU on environmental protection and biodiversity conservation are analyzed. Analysis of the MODIS satellite system data showed a significant effect of forest fires, in particular in radioactively contaminated areas, on the decrease of the forest ecosystem areas. Fires are the second most important factor, after deforestation, of the forest ecosystem reduction. Ecological problems of radioactively contaminated forest ecosystems can be overcome only with the improvement of approaches, methods, and standards from the standpoint of the environmental management. It is shown that the basis of the environmental management of radioactively contaminated forest ecosys-tems is to increase their fire safety. Prevention and suppression of forest fires in radioactively contaminated areas is a key environmental management problem. It requires development of a system of scientifically based fire protection measures and forest management, effective fire extinguishing management methods (remote, safe, fire prevention, monitoring, and ongoing preventive measures), preventing exces-sive exposure of personnel and the public from various sources, the secondary spread of radionuclides due to fires into relatively clean areas. As a result of forest fires, radionuclides in the aerosols, gaseous products of combustion (smoke and dust) are removed from forest ecosystems, creating a source of external exposure, inhalation and ingestion of radionuclides. In this case, the depositing function of the forest is lost and the migration ability of radionuclides increases. Measures have been proposed to reduce the radiation dose of the per-sonnel of the fire departments during extinguishing a forest fire, which can be achieved using hydrodynamically active water extinguishing agents with the simultaneous laying of barriers based on polyhexamethylene guanidine salts in front of the fire front.

Results of research showing the possibility of direct measurements of 90Sr on liquid scintillation spectrometer using registration of the Cherenkov luminescence and radiation in scintillation cocktail on a series of water samples, collected on territory with radioactive contamination after the Chernobyl accident, are shown. Solution for quench correction and accounting on presence within the sample of 137Cs are also demonstrated. Results have shown good correspondence to that received by classical radiochemical analysis. The best performance in term of quality of registration was shown by the method of measurement with using scintillation cocktail.

The process of radioactive pollution of produced waters, oilfield equipment, oil-contaminated soils and sludge is widely spread and differs within the various oil and gas regions. Formation waters contained radioactive element isotopes become the significant source and cause of elevated level of equivalent dose power and as a consequence, an increase in the incidence among the population. The author's idea is formulation of specific recommendations on the decontamination of the investigated objects by conducting the necessary appropriate experimental studies. The purpose of the article is to determine the content of radionuclides, γ- and α-emitters in technogenic objects of Bugruvate oil and gas fields, and to reveal the relationship with the features of mineralogical composition, geological structure and technological process. The γ-spectrometric analysis was used to determine the radionuclide composition of the natural radiators of the 238U (226Ra, 214Pо, 214Bi) and 232Th (228Ac, 212Pb, 212Вi) series in samples of technological sludge, oil, individual soil samples and water. The content of radionuclides of α-emitters was determined using separate radiochemical techniques. It was investigated that the radioactivity of the formation water is mainly determined by 226Ra and 228Ra and the products of their decay.

The morbidity rate analysis of thyroid pathology of the population of Bryansk region depending on anthropotechnogenic environmental pollution is carried out. It is revealed statistically significant (a = 0,05) higher level of morbidity rate of the population at the territories with combined radiation-chemical environment pollution.

First results of complex research of the Chernobyl cooling pond bottom sediments are presented. The general problematic is considered. Information about vertical distribution of bottom sediments water-physical properties, and also ionic compound and radioactive pollution 137Cs and 90Sr of pore water is received. The inventory of bottom sediments pore water activity is calculated. Strong correlations between concentration in pore water 137Cs, K +, NH4 + within the selected sediments columns are found out. Results of researches are intended for the forecast of radioecological situation change in the cooling pond water-soil complex during drying-up.

The analysis of influence of harmful anthropogenesis factors of environment on indicators of health of persons from areas with different degree of technogenic pollution in adult population is carried out. Biological markers of ecological trouble of environment are revealed.

Results of research showing the possibility of direct measurements of 90Sr on liquid scintillation spectrometer using registration of the Cherenkov luminescence and radiation in scintillation cocktail on a series of water samples, collected on territory with radioactive contamination after the Chernobyl accident, are shown. Solution for quench correction and accounting on presence within the sample of 137Cs are also demonstrated. Results have shown good correspondence to that received by classical radiochemical analysis. The best performance in term of quality of registration was shown by the method of measurement with using scintillation cocktail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. To raise the formalization level of solution of geoecological mapping tasks concerning processing of multiparameter geological-geophysical data for problems of high-manmade-load territories changeover to sustainable development in Ukraine. Methodology. We applied the fuzzy sets theory to raise formalization and efficiency of solution of various tasks of geoecological mapping. When we processed complex geological-geophysical data, the fuzzy purposes achievement task was solved by the Bellman-Zadeh approach. It considers the purposes of acceptance of the decision and the set of alternatives (restrictions) to be equal in rights fuzzy subsets of some universal set of alternatives. To determine the relative weight of different restrictions we solved the ordering problem given fuzzy initial information. Where it was necessary for solving the mentioned tasks we did the transition from fuzzy sets to traditional sets through the level sets, taking into account geological-geophysical conditions of the territory under review. Findings. The technology of large-scale formalized rating and prediction of development of radiologic conditions of high-manmade-load territories in southeast Ukraine was developed. Thus we based the computing procedures of definition of parameters describing spatial distribution of radioactive pollution in various geospheres in concrete points on the solution of the task of fuzzy purposes achievement by Bellman-Zadeh approach. For this the formalized purposes and restrictions were determined. To determine the influence of the territory tectonic structure features on linear and area distribution of technogenous radioactive pollution we solved the formalized task of definition of fault fragment borders and association of fragments into uniform structures based on geological-geophysical data by calculation of convex combination of fuzzy sets of indicators (attributes) of faults. Originality. Application of the fuzzy sets theory for processing of multiparameter geologicalgeophysical data in order to solve various tasks of geoecological mapping of high-manmade-load territories of Ukraine. Practical value. Application of the formalized procedures of geoecological mapping using geologicalgeophysical data (developed on the base of the fuzzy sets theory) allows us to raise the efficiency of development of the ways of increase of anthropogenic safety level and minimization of social, economic and ecological losses in the high-manmade-load territories of Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]