Answer given by Mr Piebalgs on behalf of the Commission

29.6.2009

The Commission is aware of the efforts made in France, in particular by IRSN, to reconstruct in greater detail the deposition of Cs‑137 following the Chernobyl accident. While relatively few measured deposition data are available, there are ample data on concentrations in air, which, combined with precipitation data may give a better indication of the regions which may have been affected.

In this context, the Commission produced the ‘Chernobyl Atlas’ on the basis of European data and data in the former Soviet Union. In this way a very comprehensive picture of the consequences of the accident was offered which is still considered to be an important reference document. The picture is more detailed in some regions of Europe than in others, but overall it is representative of the situation.

The Commission manages a database of all environmental radioactivity data transmitted by Member States in compliance with Article 36 of the Euratom Treaty. The data that were used for the production of the ‘Chernobyl Atlas’ stem from this database and were selected to meet the constraints of the adopted geographical mapping method. For France these data were provided by the responsible authority at that time, the SCPRI.

It is not envisaged reproducing such a document in the near future.

OJ C 189, 13/07/2010