Environmental monitoring of ionising radiation: radioactive substances in drinking milk

Since the 1960s, the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority has sampled milk from representative dairies and measured levels of radioactive substances, mainly Cs-137. In the current programme, milk from 5 dairies is sampled 4 times per year, measured for Cesium-137, Potassium-40 and Strontium-90 (two dairies). Elevated levels in milk are a rapid response to large-scale deposition, e.g. in the event of a nuclear accident, and then also constitute a potentially important route of exposure to humans. Milk levels are also reported to the EU in accordance with the Euratom Treaty. Data from these sampling stations from 2007 are available via the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority’s website. The map shows the geographical location of the sampling stations (dairies).