The Chernobyl disaster 40 years ago – the ‘worst-case scenario’ – had far-reaching consequences. Following 1986, extensive agreements were reached at national and international level to ensure a rapid and coordinated response to future incidents. In Austria, detailed emergency plans, a catalogue of measures and a sampling plan were drawn up and regularly updated. Our experts are involved in emergency planning at federal and provincial level.
Environmental monitoring
As part of our laboratory-based environmental monitoring, we regularly determine the radioactivity levels of various environmental media throughout Austria. To this end, we carry out more than 2,500 laboratory tests annually.
Ready for an emergency
In an emergency, AGES’s radiation protection laboratories can analyse up to 600 samples per day – a crucial factor in enabling the competent authorities to assess the situation rapidly and implement appropriate protective measures. Automated data transfer, fail-safe communication systems and regular emergency drills ensure reliable operational readiness.
40 years on: Caesium-137 in Austria
Four decades after Chernobyl, traces of the radionuclide caesium-137 (half-life approximately 30 years) are still detectable. In arable and grassland soils, however, it is firmly bound and therefore plays hardly any role in agricultural products. The situation is different in forest soil: there, caesium-137 (abbreviated to ‘Cs-137’) remains available to plants and can enter wildlife via mushrooms. AGES therefore carries out monitoring of game and mushrooms. Almost 1,000 food samples are analysed annually. Imported mushrooms from non-EU countries are also tested regularly. Whilst agricultural products show no significant levels, wild mushrooms and game meat may occasionally exhibit higher levels. Since 2019, however, only a few game meat samples have exceeded the limit of 600 Bq/kg, and none of these were found in the retail trade.
The amount of game meat and wild mushrooms consumed is usually so small that the resulting dose is not of any significant concern.