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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., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The accident at the Chernobyl NPP (nuclear power plant) was the most serious ever to have occurred in the history of nuclear energy. The consumption of contaminated foodstuffs in affected areas was a significant source of irradiation for the population. A wide range of different countermeasures have been used to reduce exposure of people and to mitigate the consequences of the Chernobyl accident for agriculture in affected regions in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. This paper for the first time summarises key data on countermeasure application over twenty years for all three countries and describes key lessons learnt from this experience.