Overview
- Officials say fallout from April 1986 now adds less than one percent to natural background radiation in Germany.
- Cesium-137, a fission byproduct with a roughly 30-year half-life, sticks poorly in forest soils, so mushrooms and the wild boar that eat them can still carry higher levels.
- Germany bans food above 600 becquerels of cesium-137 per kilogram, and Baden‑Württemberg has required testing of hunted boar in affected areas since 2006 with over‑limit meat discarded.
- Recent state checks in the Black Forest and southeast Baden‑Württemberg found boar over the limit, while store‑bought meat and farmed mushrooms are described by authorities as safe.
- Süddeutsche Zeitung reports a Russian drone strike damaged the reactor’s protective shelter and briefly cut its power, and the anniversary has also rekindled a domestic fight over nuclear power that includes proposals by CDU figure Jens Spahn to consider restarts.