Fukushima fallout at Milano, Italy

The radionuclides I-131, (CS)-C-137 and Cs-134 were observed in the Milano region (45 degrees) of Italy early after the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan. Increased atmospheric radioactivity was observed on an air filter taken on 30 March 2011, while the maximum activity of 467 mu Bq m(-3) for I-131 was recorded at April 3-4, 2011. The first evidence of Fukushima fallout was confirmed with I-131 and Cs-137 measured in precipitation at two sampling sites at Milano on 28 March, 2011, with the concentrations of I-131 and Cs-137 in the rainwater equal to 0.89 Bq L-1 and 0.12 Bq L-1, respectively. A sample of dry deposition that was collected 9 days after the first rainfall event of 27-28 March, 2011 showed that the dry deposition was more effective in the case of Cs-137 than it was for I-131, probably because iodine was mainly in gaseous form whereas caesium was rapidly bound to aerosols and thus highly subject to dry deposition. The relatively high observed values of Cs-137 in grass, soil and fresh goat and cow milk samples were probably from Chernobyl fallout and global fallout from past nuclear tests rather than from the Fukushima accident. Finally, a dose assessment for the region of investigation showed clearly that the detected activities in all environmental samples were very far below levels of concern. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.