Background <p>The assessment of the external radiation dose to reference herbage based on dose conversion factors assumes uniform distribution of radionuclides along the vertical soil profile. In fact, this often conflicts with reality and leads to incorrect assessments of radiation exposure.</p> Aim <p>To evaluate the external radiation doses to reference herbage in four options of radionuclide distribution along the vertical soil profile using different calculation methods; to select the most relevant calculation method.</p> Materials and methods <p>The study assesses external radiation doses to reference herbage due to γ‑radiation of ⁵⁴Mn, ⁶⁰Co, ¹⁰⁶Ru¹⁰⁶Rh, ¹³⁴Cs, ¹³⁷Cs^137mBa, ¹⁴⁴Ce¹⁴⁴Pr, and ¹⁵²Eu in four options of soil radionuclide distribution. The assessment methods are based on dose conversion factors, engineering calculations, and solution to radiation transfer equations.</p> Results <p>The results of calculating external radiation doses to reference herbage using different methods for the same geometries of the source and receiver of γ‑radiation are comparable. The assumption of a&#xa0;uniform radionuclide distribution along the soil depth with their actual predominance in the upper part of the vertical profile leads to an almost twofold underestimation of the calculated doses.</p> Conclusions <p>We recommend assessing the γ‑radiation impact of soil radionuclides on reference herbage using engineering methods taking into account the actual distribution of radionuclides by the depth of the soil profile.</p>