Assessment of external radiation doses for agricultural workers during work in the contaminated territory of the Bryansk region

The article provides an assessment of the levels of 137Cs soil pollution in the Klintsovsky, Krasnogorsky and Novozybkovsky districts of the Bryansk region in 2014, 2025 and 2030. There is a high variability of content at the level of rural settlements (municipalities) and rural settlements. In the village of Zarechye, Lopatensky rural settlement, Klintsovsky district, the standard range of 137Cs content in the soil in 2025 was 0.2-26.0 Ci/km2; in the village of Kuznets, Rozhnovsky rural settlement, Klintsovsky district, Bryansk region – 2.7-38.7 Ci/km2. Very high upper limits of the 137Cs content are also observed in municipalities and rural settlements of Krasnogorsky (more than 50 Ci/km2) and Novozybkovsky district (more than 90 Ci/km2). In 2025, in many rural settlements of Krasnogorsky and Novozybkovsky districts, the upper limits of additional annual effective doses of external radiation from 137Cs in the soil exceed the requirements of radiation safety standards for the population by 1 mSv/year. Estimates of additional annual effective doses of external radiation to agricultural workers at the level of municipalities and rural settlements of the named districts of the Bryansk region have been carried out. In some rural settlements with an abnormally high content of 137Cs in the soil, the effective external irradiation capacities for agricultural workers carrying out agricultural or rehabilitation work have been calculated. The estimated allowable annual residence time (from 50 to 1900 hours/year) in abnormally polluted fields of 137Cs is estimated.