Radiation-contaminated areas in Europe

Field Studies in Environs of Nuclear Installations in Europe

Because of my publications — in which I suggested that the nuclear fallout from Chernobyl, as well as from normally functioning Swiss nuclear power plants, is responsible for deformed insects — I was strongly criticized by several Swiss scientists. [ 1 ] I felt uncertain about this aggressive and, at the same time, passive behavior among my critics. Therefore, I decided to continue with my studies in areas where nuclear facilities with a well-known bad reputation are located: the nuclear-reprocessing plants Sellafield BNFL in Cumbria, England (1989) [ 1 ] and COGEMA La Hague in Normandy, France (1999) [ 2 ]. Swiss and German nuclear power plants send their nuclear waste to these plants for reprocessing.