engleski

Impact of the Chernobyl Accident on the Radioactive Contamination of the Croatian Environment

This paper summarizes the data on the long term radioactive contamination caused by the Chernobyl accident. The special attention has been taken on 137Cs and 90Sr, as they have been recognized as the main contributors to the collective dose. After the period of intensive nuclear weapons tests conduced in the atmosphere, both 137Cs and 90Sr in the Croatian environment exponentially decreased. The Chernobyl accident caused a temporary increase of 137Cs fallout activities. However, as 90Sr is much less volatile than 137Cs, its levels in the Croatian environment were practically unaffected by the Chernobyl accident, the only exception being the cistern waters. Contrary to the public beliefs, Croatia has not been seriously affected by this accident. Consequently, the estimated risk on the Croatian population was found to be very small. This is consistent with the UNSCEAR assessment which shows that on a global scale, the total radiological impact of Chernobyl has been minor. From a radioecological point of view, the Chernobyl accident draws special attention to the vulnerability of some environmental compartments.

Chernobyl accident; radioactive contamination; Croatian environment

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