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Mushrooms foraged in Sweden could help research Chernobyl fallout

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Mushrooms foraged in Sweden could help research Chernobyl fallout
News

News

Mushrooms foraged in Sweden could help research Chernobyl fallout

2024-09-06 23:59 Last Updated At:09-07 00:01

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden's strong foraging culture could help determine how much radioactive fallout remains in the Scandinavian country 38 years after the Chernobyl nuclear explosion.

The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority has asked mushroom-pickers to send samples of this season's harvest for testing. The goal of the measurement project is to map the levels of Cesium-137 in mushrooms, which can absorb the isotope from soil, and see how much remains after the April 26, 1986 disaster at the Soviet nuclear power plant in what is now Ukraine.

Cesium, the key radioactive material released in the fallout, has a half-life of some 30 years. It can build up in the body, and high levels are thought to be a risk.

The radiation watchdog is counting on the foraging lifestyle in Sweden, which is covered by more than 60% of forest, to aid its research. In late summer, many Swedes spend days in the woods collecting berries, mushrooms and plants.

It's asking foragers where they found their bounty — though they don't have to disclose the exact whereabouts of the prized golden chanterelle mushroom.

Spots that regularly produce such chanterelles — often called “the gold of the forest mushroom” — are closely guarded family secrets that could cause headaches for researchers who need data points.

“It doesn’t have to be the exact location of the most secret chanterelle spot,” said Pål Andersson, an investigator at the Radiation Safety Authority.

Mushroom-pickers are instructed to send in double-bagged edible fungi — at least 100 grams (3.53 ounces) of fresh mushrooms, or 20 grams (0.71 ounces) of dried mushrooms — picked in 2024.

Sweden’s safety authority did not say when a result of its research was expected.

Dozens of people were killed in the immediate aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, while the radioactive fallout spread across Europe. The long-term death toll from radiation poisoning is unknown.

Swedish authorities were the first to detect radioactive fallout in Europe, forcing Soviet officials, who had attempted to cover up the disaster, to open up about it days later.

In 2017, a state veterinary agency in the Czech Republic said about half of all wild boars in the country’s southwest were radioactive and considered unsafe for consumption. The boars feed on an underground mushroom that absorbs radioactivity from the soil. Similar problems with radioactive wild animals were reported in Austria and Germany.

——

Dazio reported from Berlin.

FILE - A shelter construction covers the exploded reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, April 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

FILE - A shelter construction covers the exploded reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, in Chernobyl, Ukraine, April 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

A golden chanterelle mushroom, shown here in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Natalie Li)

A golden chanterelle mushroom, shown here in Stockholm, Sweden, on July 31, 2021. (AP Photo/Natalie Li)

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Lewis Hamilton waves to fans as he drives a Ferrari F1 car for the first time

2025-01-22 17:49 Last Updated At:17:51

FIORANO MODENESE, Italy (AP) — Lewis Hamilton waved to a crowd of waiting fans on Wednesday as he drove a Ferrari Formula 1 car for the first time since joining the Italian team for the 2025 season.

Hamilton was behind the wheel of a 2023-specification Ferrari SF-23 bearing his racing number, 44, at the team's Fiorano test track, and wore a new helmet design in yellow with a prominent Prancing Horse logo.

Hamilton has shaken up F1 with his move to Ferrari after 12 years with Mercedes, where he won six of his seven world titles. The 40-year-old British driver has said he's fulfilling a childhood dream.

“I’ve been lucky enough to have achieved things in my career I never thought possible, but part of me has always held on to that dream of racing in red. I couldn’t be happier to realize that dream today," he said Monday after arriving at Ferrari's Maranello headquarters for his first day at work with the new team.

F1 tightly restricts teams from testing current-specification cars but the rules are more loose for older cars like the SF-23 that Hamilton drove Wednesday.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

People gather outside the Ferrari track as British driver Lewis Hamilton tests a Ferrari Formula One SF-23, in Fiorano Modenese, Italy, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

People gather outside the Ferrari track as British driver Lewis Hamilton tests a Ferrari Formula One SF-23, in Fiorano Modenese, Italy, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

British driver Lewis Hamilton steers a Ferrari Formula One SF-23 at the Ferrari private test track, in Fiorano Modenese, Italy, Wednesday, Jan.22, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

British driver Lewis Hamilton steers a Ferrari Formula One SF-23 at the Ferrari private test track, in Fiorano Modenese, Italy, Wednesday, Jan.22, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

British driver Lewis Hamilton steers a Ferrari Formula One SF-23 at the Ferrari private test track, in Fiorano Modenese, Italy, Wednesday, Jan.22, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

British driver Lewis Hamilton steers a Ferrari Formula One SF-23 at the Ferrari private test track, in Fiorano Modenese, Italy, Wednesday, Jan.22, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

British driver Lewis Hamilton waves to fans during the first lap with a Ferrari Formula One SF-23 at the Ferrari private test track, in Fiorano Modenese, Italy, Wednesday, Jan.22, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

British driver Lewis Hamilton waves to fans during the first lap with a Ferrari Formula One SF-23 at the Ferrari private test track, in Fiorano Modenese, Italy, Wednesday, Jan.22, 2025. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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