Laboratory of Agroecology and Mass Analyses

• Studies post-Chernobyl behavioural patterns of radionuclides in soils,
• studies migration of radionuclides in soil-to-plant chains,
• develops, validates and supervises on-site implementation of radioprotective and cost-effective agricultural recommendations and innovative technologies for affected farm areas,
• characterises accumulation abilities of different plant varieties,
• employs latest IT developments to tackle agroecological challenges in affected farm areas,
• evaluates the state of unused contaminated farmlands and manages their conservation,
• is involved in radioecological monitoring in the BelNPP surveillance zone,
• determines specific (volumetric) activity of ¹³⁷Cs, ⁹⁰Sr, ^238,239,240Pu, ²⁴¹Am in environmental samples,
• measures specific activity of natural radionuclides in construction materials and commodities, mineral fertilizers,
• measures total alpha-beta activity in drinking water,
• equivalent dose rate from gamma emitters and surface contamination from beta-emitters,
• defines major nutrients in soils,
• controls the quality/safety/compliance of foodstuffs, feedstuffs and agricultural raw materials,
• determines zootechnical quality of forage crops and mixed feedstuffs,
• analyzes radon concentrations in homes, industrial spaces and soils,
• develops analytical procedures and measuring techniques.

Head

Galina SEDUKOVA, PhD AgriSc, associate professor

Staff

AVTUSHKO Mikhail, lead researcher, PhD Geology/Mineralogy
STRELIAEVA Zoya, lead researcher, PhD AgriSc
ISACHENKO Sergei, senior researcher
TIMCHENKO Elena, researcher
DUDAREVA Natalia, researcher
ZHUKOVA Liudmila, researcher
KOZLOVA Liudmila, junior researcher
KRISTOVA Nina, junior researcher
MOROZOV Viacheslav, junior researcher
DROZD Ksenia, junior researcher
RUSAKOVICH Elena, senior lab engineer
CHUESHOVA Irina, senior engineer-radiologist
LEVKOVA Irina, senior engineer-radiologist
PODOLYAK Svetlana, senior lab technician
FIRSAKOVA Maria, senior lab technician

LAMA is a new name of two veteran ex-RIR laboratories adjoined to IRB in 2019 and combined together in 2020. That is, Agroecology Lab, first established in 1986 as Laboratory of Protective Measures in Crop Production, and Mass Analyses Laboratory created in 1999.

Our fundamental and applied research efforts are ultimately aimed at reducing the public exposure by limiting the levels of radionuclides contained in food products to as low as possible.

Agroecological research mostly relies on field and greenhouse experiments followed by efficiency / performance tests in the area of radioactive contamination. Analytical services are represented by a wide range of laboratory tests and are based on the best dosimetry, radiochemistry and spectrometry practices.

LAMA is an accredited and certified research analytical laboratory complying with the QMS ISO 9001-2015 and ISO/IEC 17025-2019 standards.

The scope of accreditation (Certificate no. BY/112 2.5140, valid through 2024) includes 54 different types of analytical tests. LAMA is equipped with 25 measuring units, 10 experimental and 75 supporting equipments.

In terms of annual capacity, LAMA delivers over 2 000 analyses of radionuclide concentrations, over 1 000 tests of the quality and chemical composition of feeds and agricultural raw materials, and around 250 tests on the determination of transuranic elements.

UAZ Patriot-mounted portable spectrometry devices

Recommendations  

 

• Suggestions for selecting the varietal composition of cruciferous vegetables for cultivation in personal kitchen gardens in the area of radioactive contamination;
• Recommendations on winter rape cultivation in contaminated areas;
• Recommendations on winter barley cultivation in contaminated areas (in cooperation with NASB Research and Practical Centre for Arable Farming);
• Recommendations on the use of wood ash as a fertilizer in personal farms and kitchen gardens located in contaminated areas;
• Recommendations on ash handling when burning radioactively contaminated wood fuels;
• Amendments to the existing organizational and technological agricultural practices for crop cultivation and production in the territories of radioactive contamination;
• The Unified Concept of Russia and Belarus concerning the management of resettlement and exclusion zones and radiation protection of the public (in cooperation with Nuclear Safety Institute (IBRAE), Forest Management Institute, Polesie State Radiation Ecological Reserve);
• Methodological recommendations on designing the field trials for different humus contents of the soils;

• Acquisition of valuable radioecological monitoring data about agroecosystems and their components in the BelNPP impact area;

• Recommendations for improving the composition of feed mixtures based on sorghum and oat crops in contaminated territories (2016);
• Recommendations for enhancing forage production in contaminated territories through cultivating mixed silage and leguminous crops (2015);
• Recommendations for cultivating various potato varieties under radioactive contamination (2013);
• Recommendations for the cultivation of husked oats in contaminated lands (2013);
• Environmentalization of contaminated areas by means of cultivating leguminous and grain-leguminous crops (2010);

• and many more.

 

Software products

 

• AgroOptimization is a user-friendly software designed to help with the optimization of crop production and management with the adaptation to specific conditions of a particular farm. Offers, among others, the ability to assess agricultural lands by their type, line of use, fertility, ¹³⁷Cs and ⁹⁰Sr levels, as well as to predict short- and long-term contamination of crops, crop productivity under different cultivation conditions.

 

• FORECAST of radionuclide contamination enables you to make predictions of the specific activities of radionuclides in crop yields for any period of time after the radioactive fallout, with taking into account agrochemical parameters of soils and deposition densities.

 

• Software suite with a complete inventory database on abandoned lands – intended for the use by the national-level and local authorities (Ministries, Chernobyl Department, etc.). Included on the NASB list of the most important inventions of 2017.

 

Measurement procedures

 

• Method of radiochemical determination of strontium-90 activity in soils and plants without separation in the strontium-calcium system (МВИ.МН 1932-2003);
• Extraction-chromatographic method of separation and determination of ⁹⁰Sr activity in plant samples and natural waters using gas-proportional counter (МВИ.МН 2459-2006);
• Water-sampling technique for controlling ¹³⁷Cs and ⁹⁰Sr in the wells of decontamination waste disposal facilities (МВИ.МН 2609-2006);
• Alpha-spectrometry determination of specific activity of plutonium isotopes (²³⁸Pu, ^239,240Pu) in soil and plants samples with acquisition of a counting sample by electrodeposition (МВИ.МН 3059-2008);
• Measurement procedure for alpha-spectrometric determination of ²⁴¹Am in soils and plants with preliminary radiochemical sample preparation and acquisition of a counting sample by electrodeposition (МВИ.МН 3621-2010);
• Measurement procedure for alpha-spectrometric determination of the specific activities of ²³⁸Pu, ^239+240Pu, ²⁴¹Am in biological samples using ion-exchange and extraction-chromatographic materials and acquisition of a counting sample by electrodeposition (МВИ.МН 4486-2012).

 

International cooperation

 

• National Radiation Protection Institute (SÚRO), Czech Republic
• EMERCOM Main Directorate for the Bryansk Region, Russian Federation
• Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (ČZU), Czech Republic

 

Inventions & Patents

 

• M. I. Avtushko, L. V. Zhukova, A. I. Zhukovsky, S. A. A device for measuring radon content in pore air of soils using a carbon sorbent. Useful Model Patent of the Republic of Belarus no. 12322 of 30.06.2020. Patent of the Republic of Belarus
• V. Yu. Ageyets, E. Yu. Langrok, V. P. Kudryashov, S. A. Buzdalkina, N. V. Dudareva, A. K. Dovnar. A device for rapid extraction-chromatographic separation of strontium. Useful Model Patent of the Republic of Belarus no. 3278 of 02.07.
• A. Buzdalkina, N. V. Dudareva, A. K. Dovnar. A device for extraction-chromatographic separation of strontium. Useful Model Patent of the Republic of Belarus no. 2279 of 2005.07.15.
• M. I. Avtushko, S. A. Buzdalkina, L. M. Pchelyakova, V. A. Krivoshlykov. A device for granulometric analysis of clay soils. Useful Model Patent of the Republic of Belarus no. 1948 of 2005.02.15.
• I. Avtushko, V. E. Kovderko. A method for searching radon anomalies of deep-seated origin. Useful Model Patent of the Republic of Belarus no. 6422 of 2004.04.14.
• I. Avtushko, V. E. Kovderko, T. V. Lasko. A soil sampling device. Useful Model Patent of the Republic of Belarus no. 1362 of 2004.01.15.
• I. Avtushko, V. E. Kovderko. A radon sampling device. Useful Model Patent of the Republic of Belarus no. 1341 of 2003.12.16.
• I. Avtushko, V. E. Kovderko. A measuring device for radon flux density. Useful Model Patent of the Republic of Belarus no. 1332 of 2003.12.16.
• I. Avtushko, V. E. Kovderko. A soil sampling device. Useful Model Patent of the Republic of Belarus no. 464 of 2001.11.8.

 

Publications

(The following list features only a few for brief reference. More details are available on request.)

 

1. Influence of nitrogen fertilizers on accumulation of ¹³⁷Сs perennial cereal grasses on pearly-glay soil (in Russian). N. N. Tsybulka, G. V. Sedukova, E. B. Evseev, I. I. Zhukova. Soil Science and Agrochemistry, No. 1(62), 2019. P. 157–168.
2. G.V. Sedukova, S.A. Isachenko. Parameters of accumulation and maximum densities of soil radionuclide contamination for production of regulatory clean products of winter rapeseed on radioactive contamination territory (in Russian). J. Agriculture and Selection in Belarus. Minsk, 2018. Issue 54. P. 180–186.
3. Wood ashes as a fertilizer for vegetables in contaminated areas (in Russian). G.V. Sedukova, S.A. Isachenko, E.A. Timchenko. Nashe selskoye khozyaistvo, 2018. Issue 21. P. 92–96.
4. Winter barley: the basic agrotechnical elements (in Russian). A.A. Zubkovich, L.A. Bulavin, T.M. Bulavina, G.V. Sedukova, I.I. Yatskevich. J. Agriculture and Plant Protection, 2018. Issue 4. P. 23–26.
5. 5. Development and implementation of a unified Belarus-Russian concept for managing resettlement and exclusion territories for providing human protection (in Russian). A. Podolyak, G. Sedukova, Z. Lozovaya, S. Isachenko. J. of Civil Protection. 1, no. 3. 2017. P. 255–259.
6. E. Timchenko. Assessment of contribution from green leafy vegetables to individual doses of internal exposure of Belarusian residents. In Int. Conf. Proc. Health Effects of the Chornobyl Accident – 30 Years Aftermath, April 18-19, 2016, Kyiv, Ukraine. 2016. P. 153.
7. 2016 National Report of the Republic of Belarus. 30 years of the Chernobyl accident: outcomes and prospects of recovery (in Russian). B.A. Chernikov, N.N. Tsybulka [et al.]. Minsk: Ministry for Emergency Situations of the Republic of Belarus.
8. S. Isachenko. RAINBOW AgroOptimization Model. International Science Symposium on Combating Radionuclide Contamination in Agro-Soil Environment. 2012. P. 364.
9. Scientific aspects of contaminated land remediation following large-scale radiation accidents (in Russian). N. N. Tsybulka, V. S. Averin, A. G. Podolyak, G. V. Sedukova. Minsk, RIR. 2012. P. 438.
10. Development of the techniques for radiochemical analysis of ⁹⁰Sr and transuranic elements in agrobiocoenosis objects (in Russian). N.V. Dudareva, A.K. Dovnar, S.A. Tagai, A.B. Kukhtevich, V.A. Vaskovtsova, V.A. Shumilin. J. Medical and Biological Problems of Life Activity. Republican Research Centre for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology. 2011. Issue 1 (5). P. 159–165.

Contact

Phone/Fax: +375 232 349758
E-mail: g.sedukova@gmail.com