District profile

The total area of the Bragin District, Gomel Region, is 196, 046 ha. 100 % of the district area has contamination levels over 1 Ci/km², with virtually 100% of agricultural land and 97.9% of wooded land completely contaminated (Figure 1). 50, 842 ha of agricultural land have been withdrawn from agricultural use.

Figure 1. ¹³⁷Cs contamination map of the Bragin District

Due to the Chernobyl NPP accident, the population was relocated from 55 communities (12,140 people); 9 former communities were evacuated and their houses buried. Over the post-accident period, the population of the district has declined by 56.2%. As of 1 January, 2003, the population was about 17,000, including 11,301 (or 66.4%) of rural and 5,740 (or 33.6%) of urban portions. For comparison's sake, as of 1 January, 1986, the population of the Bragin District totalled 38,800, including 30,700 (79%) of rural and 8,100 (21%) of urban population.

People live only in 82 (of which 80 are rural) out of 136 communities. Thus, the bulk of the population of the Bragin District are rural residents. Figure 2 shows numbers within the three key categories of rural population (working-age persons, pensioners and children under 15) for the period of 1986 - 2003.

Figure 2. Categories of rural population in the Bragin District

The share of rural children in the Bragin District is low (18.1%), the working-age population constitutes 41.7 %, and the share of pensioners is high (40.1%).

Figure 3. Proportions of key population groups in the Bragin District in 2003.

Figure 4 shows distribution of the affected areas, communities and population of the Bragin District according to radioactive contamination zones.

Figure 4. Distribution of areas, communities and population of the Bragin District according to radioactive contamination zones as of 1 January, 2004.

As it follows from the figure, 39% of land in the Bragin District is within the contamination range of 1-5 Ci/km². 28% of the district land are within 5 - 15 Ci/km², where 60.6 % of residents live in 61 communities.

After the Chernobyl NPP accident, a set of forceful activities has been conducted in the district to address the consequences of the disaster. Over the 1986-2002 period, 334 apartments were built; 2 communities were connected to gas-supply network; 21,300 m² of the area were improved; 76 km of hard-surface roads were constructed; 166.8 km of water-supply pipelines were laid; 56.3 km of gas-supply lines were installed; 6 radiological laboratories and 2 radiation monitoring sites were established; 44,500 m² of open areas were deactivated.

All Rights Reserved, CORE, 2004