Levels in Europe post Chernobyl

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 2011-05-18 11:49

I lived until recently in England. Is it possible that I have been eating food with cesium in my whole life due to Chernobyl without realizing it?

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You would think one

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2011-05-19 19:05.

You would think one Chernobyl would be enough, but now we have over 400 ticking time bomb reactors.

"Humanity" really is stupid.

Sure is interesting to see

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2011-05-19 18:28.

Sure is interesting to see how it concentrates in different areas. I wonder if at some point will see something similar for the states.

I was thinking the same

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2011-05-18 13:14.

I was thinking the same thing since I am from Europe too, and I was born one year before you. My question is: although we surely ate contaminated food for the past 25 years, wouldn't the food be less contaminated now in Europe compared to the US since the radioactive particles decay over time? I read that it takes 30 years for cesium to decay, so it would take another 5 years to be completely inactive.

I am ignorant about the subject, so these are just my opinion and thoughts.

30 years for HALF of the cesium to decay

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2011-05-18 13:16.

It' a 30 year "half life". So, 30 years for half to decay.
Then 30 years for half of the remaining half, etc, etc, etc.

does anybody have a map of

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2011-05-18 13:41.

does anybody have a map of the contaminated areas in Europe? Did it reach the whole continent? Which were the most affected areas?

Wikipedia's Chernobyl page

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2011-05-19 10:52.

Wikipedia's Chernobyl page has some dispersion maps.

Worth looking at, not that you can do anything about it.

http://www.progettohumus.it/i

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2011-05-18 18:33.

http://www.progettohumus.it/include/chernobyl/mappe/europa/PLATE01.PDF

wow...it's everywhere! Is US

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2011-05-19 12:53.

wow...it's everywhere! Is US looking the same now, as far as radioactive particles deposit??

Not by far. Check the levels

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2011-05-19 17:27.

Not by far. Check the levels of cesium 137 deposition in Germany or the Scandinavian countries.

Ahem... For sure. I would be

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2011-05-18 12:08.

Ahem...

For sure.

I would be interested in knowing how mch is in European food products, obviously it will vary greatly depending on the area and the product.

I know at one point Welsh lamb was considered unsafe to eat...

That's what I thought. I had

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2011-05-18 12:33.

That's what I thought. I had been thinking about moving back to England when this happened as I am pregnant... until my partner pointed out that we have probably been walking through contaminated areas and eating contaminated food without a care in the world in the UK!

I know it doesn't make it any better but I was born in 84 and have friends who were born in utero during Chernobyl in the UK and we all turned out OK (so far!).

I guess the iodine is the main difference and as that appears to be dropping that is great news.

It would be interesting to see data on EU levels of cesium post Chernobyl.