A team of researchers from the United Kingdom and Ukraine has developed a new method for the safe reassessment of farmland abandoned after the Chornobyl nuclear accident in 1986.
Zoning of contaminated territory of Ukraine according to current and field study plot. Image credit: Smith et al., doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2025.107698.
Since the Chornobyl disaster, large regions of northern Ukraine were designated as too hazardous for farming.
The 4,200-km2 Chornobyl Exclusion Zone around the nuclear site remains uninhabited and is now one of Europe’s largest nature reserves.
A second 2,000-km2 area — the Zone of Obligatory Resettlement — was never fully abandoned.
The area is home to thousands of people, has schools and shops but no official investment or use of land is allowed.
Since the 1990’s scientists in Ukraine and overseas have been saying that the land can be safely used again despite contamination by radiocesium and radiostrontium.
But political complexities have meant that the land remains officially abandoned.
That hasn’t stopped a few farmers taking matters into their own hands and beginning unofficial production in some areas.
Led by scientists from the University of Portsmouth and the Ukrainian Institute of Agricultural Radiology, the new study confirms that the farmers were right — crops can be grown safely in most areas.
Using a 100-hectare test site in the Zhytomyr region, the researchers developed a simple yet robust protocol to evaluate contamination levels and predict the uptake of radioactive substances by common crops such as potatoes, cereals, maize, and sunflowers.
By analyzing soil samples and measuring external gamma radiation, they confirmed that the effective radiation dose to agricultural workers is well below Ukraine’s national safety threshold, and significantly lower than background radiation levels experienced naturally all over the world.
The findings show that, with proper monitoring and adherence to Ukrainian food safety regulations, many crops can be safely grown in these previously restricted zones.
“This research is important for communities affected by the Chornobyl disaster,” said University of Portsmouth’s Professor Jim Smith, lead author of the study.
“Since 1986 there has been a lot of misinformation about radiation risks from Chornobyl which has negatively impacted on people still living in abandoned areas.”
“We now have a validated, science-based approach for bringing valuable farmland back into official production while demonstrating safety for both consumers and workers.”
“This isn’t just about Chornobyl. It’s about applying science and evidence to ensure people are protected, while making sure land isn’t needlessly left to waste.”
The study appears in the Journal of Environmental Radioactivity.
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J.T. Smith et al. A protocol for the radiological assessment for agricultural use of land in Ukraine abandoned after the Chornobyl accident. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, published online April 28, 2025; doi: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2025.107698
