Small amounts of radioactive cesium from Fukushima have been detected in Finland's forests17/01/2012
The accident in Fukushima raised the amount of artificial radioactivity in food products from the Finnish nature at most approximately by one percent, depending on the product. Other artificial radioactivity in the Finnish environment stems from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in 1986, and from nuclear weapons tests conducted in the atmosphere in the 1950's and 1960's.
The average radiation dose from various sources for Finns is 3.7 millisievert per year. The radiation dose caused by food products from nature is 0.01 millisieverts per year, on average. The increase caused by the accident in Fukushima is insignificantly small. No radioactivity that originates from Fukushima has been detected in household water, milk or other foodstuffs on the market. The Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) monitors the radioactivity in the Finnish environment by measuring the amounts of radioactive substances in various environmental samples. The environmental samples, in which cesium that originates from Fukushima was discovered, were collected during late summer and autumn. The measured cesium-134 and cesium-137 concentrations were below one becquerel per kilogram fresh weight in mushrooms and in reindeer and elk meat. The amount of such cesium-137 that originates from the nuclear accident in Chernobyl was in the same mushroom samples 25–3000 and the reindeer and elk meat samples 17–95 becquerels per kilogram. The nuclear accident in Fukushima in March 2011 spread radioactive substances across the northern hemisphere. In Finland, the first observations of radioactive substances that originate from the accident were made on 22nd March through outdoor air measurements. This was about a week after the accident began. The amount of radioactive substances in outdoor air was so small that no protective measures were required. The amount also rapidly fell below the detection limit. Since May, hardly any radioactive substances that originate from the accident have been detected in outdoor air. Additional information: Page updated 18/01/2012
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