**5. Principal remediation strategies for radioactive contamination**

The issue of remediating radioactively contaminated terrestrial ecosystems dates back to the early years of the Atomic Age (1945–1965) when protection measures were a secondary consideration to weapons production. Tests were conducted in contaminated areas such as near Hanford, Washington, and Ozyorsk (Chelyabinsk-40) [27, 29].

After 1986, to protect the environmental health and resolve the liabilities due to eventual radioactive contamination, severely contaminated countries and the responsible institutions have undertaken certain remediation and protection measures:


Most of these strategies are discussed in detail elsewhere [39–44]. All of the methods were applied to some degree within the ChEZ and the highly contaminated areas of the former USSR [42]. By far, the most widespread method used was the deep tilling of agricultural fields. Nevertheless, one of the strategies for remediation, the use of zeolites for demobilization and biodetoxification of 137Cs has only been tested on a small scale in the ChEZ, while, at the same time, being the most promising approach for countering the toxicity of radiocesium [39, 45].
