Role of GIS in Lifting the Cloud Off Chernobyl

The 15th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster offered an opportunity for an expert assessment of the situation in 2001 and suggestions for approaches to managing the information associated with the site and surrounding contaminated territories. The great quantity of data coming from the contaminated region was and is very difficult to use without the aid of modern information technologies, especially Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS). Application of these technologies, and related expertise, became crucial to the region's economic recovery and sustainability planning. Given the real possibility of a similar accident at nuclear facilities elsewhere around the world, the development of recovery strategies based on experience gained at Chernobyl, using modern scientific methods and technologies, will be invaluable in the future. The presentations and discussion reported in the book have led to some key conclusions. Image maps derived from satellite imagery are the most economical, up-to-date and readily available basis for Chernobyl-related applications, as well as for other future applications. The study of soil-plant transfer of radionuclides afforded comparatively much more reliable data. GIS in association with adequate knowledge is a valuable tool in decision making and modelling of contaminated areas and objects.