Economic consequences of the chernobyl accident in Norway in the decade 1986–1995

Although the distance from Chernobyl to Norway is about 2000 km, it is estimated that 3–5% of the radiocesium released from Chernobyl was deposited upon Norwegian territory. This was caused by an unfortunate (for Norway) and unusual combination of large initial thermal lift of the plume (which kept...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 1998-01, Vol.41 (3), p.233-255
Main Authors: Tveten, Ulf, Brynildsen, Lisbeth I., Amundsen, Ingar, Bergan, Tone D.S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution
Food industries
Food toxicology
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
General aspects
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Although the distance from Chernobyl to Norway is about 2000 km, it is estimated that 3–5% of the radiocesium released from Chernobyl was deposited upon Norwegian territory. This was caused by an unfortunate (for Norway) and unusual combination of large initial thermal lift of the plume (which kept the materials airborne), wind direction (which brought the plume across Scandinavia), and precipitation (which led to strong deposition in parts of Norway and Sweden). The areas in which deposition took place in Norway to a large extent comprise natural environments (mountain plains and forest) which are important in an agricultural context. In 1986, large amounts of mutton, reindeer meat and goat’s cheese exceeded the limits for radiocesium content set by the authorities. Some non-destructive countermeasures were implemented, but much of the meat was condemned. By the following year the authorities had implemented a large programme of countermeasures, and thereby managed drastically to reduce the amount of discarded food. In the present report, the cost of these countermeasures, as well as the cost of discarded foodstuff, is summarized for each of the ten years since the accident. Although ten years have passed, all the countermeasures are still required, even though there has been some decline in the size of the areas and the number of animals involved.
ISSN:0265-931X
1879-1700
DOI:10.1016/S0265-931X(98)00015-0