drinking water.
The far field
The amount of caesium-137 deposited in Europe, outside the former
Soviet Union (Map 18.3), varied from less than 1
kBq/m2 (in the southern part of the UK, western France,
the Iberian peninsula, and some parts of Italy and southern Greece)
to 100 kBq/m2 (in some 'hot spots' in Austria, Greece and
Scandinavia, this value was even
exceeded) (De Cort et al, 1990).
This patchy deposition pattern led to important variations in
foodstuff contamination, which induced differences in
individual doses. The estimated doses range from
200 µSv (UK) to 960 µmSv
(Greece) (UNSCEAR, 1988).
The European Commission and the Council of Ministers had to
act urgently to set common intervention levels for food control in
order to avoid large trade conflicts within the EC since, according
to the Treaty of Rome, Member States are allowed to override all
normal requirements for the free access of imports if no common
rules exist concerning health on a particular issue. On 30 May 1986 a
Regulation was adopted with the following permitted caesium levels
to the import of food into the EC: 370 Bq/kg for milk and foodstuffs
for infants during the first four to six months of life; and 600
Bq/kg for all other products. In the meantime some 20 countries
outside the EC have also adopted these levels
(Luykx, 1993).
Health effects
Although precise knowledge of the full consequences of the accident
is unlikely, some unexpected effects have emerged. Five years after
the accident, a sharp increase in the reported incidence of thyroid
cancer among children has been observed in Belarus. To date there is
no proof of an increase in the incidence of any other type of
radiation inducible cancer. However, the indirect adverse effects
on health may be more important than the direct effects due to
radiation (WHO, in press).
Follow-up
In 1992 the CEC/CIS joint programme on the consequences of the
Chernobyl accident was initiated. The programme was initially
conceived for implementation within the framework of CHECIR
(Chernobyl Centre for International Research) which was established
by an agreement between the former USSR and the IAEA in 1990. However,
because of the political changes that occurred in the former USSR in
1991, a different procedure had to be followed, which culminated in
an agreement being signed in June 1992 between the Commission and
the three new states of Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine
to establish the joint programme of work. The main purpose of the
CEC/CIS collaborative programme is to complement and to assist those
in the three republics responsible for evaluating and mitigating the
consequences of the accident, and to gain an improved understanding
and knowledge of the health and environmental impact of radioactive
contamination and of how it can be reduced.
(Kelly and Cecille, 1994).
Map 18.2 - Caesium contamination around
Chernobyl after the accident
Source: Gagarmski, 1990
Map 18.3 - Cumulative deposition in Europe of Cs-137 from the Chernobyl accident
Source: De Cort et al, 1990