ABSTRACT

The main stages of radioecology development, including radioecology of natural bodies of water, are analyzed. Levels of radioactive contamination of natural waters because of nuclear weapons testing in the 1945–1980s have been estimated. The main priorities of the post-Chernobyl stage became the investigations of ecological consequences of nuclear accidents and elaboration of scientific principles of ecological safety under conditions of increasing chemical contamination of the biosphere. The priorities for research of natural waters at the end of the second millennium – the beginning of the third millennium are determined.