[HN] Scientists finally know why Germany’s wild boar are surprisingly radioactive

This has huge implications for Fukushima and Hanford as well.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

On April 26, 1986, the infamous explosion at a Chernobyl nuclear power plant unleashed large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere, an event that contaminated wildlife across country lines.

In a new study released last week, a team of researchers finally solved this “wild boar paradox.” They uncovered that the main radioactive source is not the Chernobyl accident but nuclear weapons testing from the 1960s.

Steinhauser previously suggested that perhaps the cesium dissolves better in fat tissue in wild boars and stays present longer, but subsequent research did not support that assertion either.

Steinhauser said the wild boars probably ingested the cesium from contaminated deer truffle mushrooms, which they dig up and eat during the winter when corn and acorns on the ground are scarce.

He said it has always been assumed that the radiocesium stems from the most recent release of radioactive fallout that affected the area, such as the Chernobyl accident in the case of Europe, but this study upends that assumption.

“This study clearly shows that the contribution from legacy sources, i.e., fallout from nuclear weapons tests, cannot be ignored when determining potential environmental consequences and health risks, which was news to me,” said Sudowe, a professor at Colorado State University.

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