Up to date Deposits in Ticino greatly reduced 40 years after Chernobyl
The cantons of Ticino, St. Gallen and Thurgau were the most severely affected by the Chernobyl nuclear accident on April 26, 1986. In Ticino, caesium contamination has been reduced by more than half to date.
23.04.2026, 12:07
SDA
This is thanks to physical decay, explained those responsible at a media conference in Bellinzona on Thursday.
On 3 May 1986, heavy rainfall in Ticino made it possible for radioactive substances to be deposited, as Cristina Poretti, responsible for the national organization for sampling and measurements for the National Emergency Operations Centre of the Federal Office for Civil Protection, explained.
The material came from a radioactive cloud that had spread across Europe after the reactor accident. Where it rained, the particles were deposited on the ground. In Ticino, radioactive deposits were subsequently detected in over 5,000 samples of milk, meat, fruit and fish, as Poretti explained.
