137Cs in Soil and Fallout around Zagreb, Croatia at the Time of the Fukushima Accident

Abstract

This paper addresses the noticeable increase of ¹³⁷Cs activity concentrations in soil and fallout in the area surrounding Zagreb, Croatia that occurred at the time of the 2011 Fukushima accident. This topic is important for public health as ¹³⁷Cs is highly toxic due to its long half-life of radioactive decay and chemical similarity to potassium. ¹³⁷Cs concentrations in fallout were much greater than in soil, but remained present longer in the latter. While being detectable in our measurements, ¹³⁷Cs did not spread through the food chain in amounts exceeding the maximum allowed level of radioactive food contamination. However, more thorough and consistent measurements need to be done in order to establish the precise activity trends of ¹³⁷Cs inZagreb soil and fallout.