CHOOSE AND PERISH

[andrewducker]

[Poll #1606301]

Comments

[andrewducker]

Twenty four years after the catastrophe, restriction orders remain in place in the production, transportation and consumption of food contaminated by Chernobyl fallout. In the UK, they remain in place on 369 farms covering 750 km² and 200,000 sheep. In parts of Sweden and Finland, restrictions are in place on stock animals, including reindeer, in natural and near-natural environments. "In certain regions of Germany, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania and Poland, wild game (including boar and deer), wild mushrooms, berries and carnivorous fish from lakes reach levels of several thousand Bq per kg of caesium-137", while "in Germany, caesium-137 levels in wild boar muscle reached 40,000 Bq/kg. The average level is 6,800 Bq/kg, more than ten times the EU limit of 600 Bq/kg", according to the TORCH 2006 report. The European Commission has stated that "The restrictions on certain foodstuffs from certain Member States must therefore continue to be maintained for many years to come".[6]

Edit: Of course, I had the link to the radioactive boar on my LJ in the last few weeks.

[matgb]

Exactly, if it goes wrong, it really goes wrong. But such events are very rare, and normally due to incompetent design and procedures.

Apart from their deliberate positioning fairly close to where I grew up, the French don't seem to have had any problems with their stations, not major ones anyway.

[andrewducker]

Oh, agreed. I believe newer designs are much better. I just also understand why people are scared of it going wrong, and if some people felt that nuclear power going wrong was worse than global warming then I wouldn't be surprised.