The book deals with various consequences of major nuclear accidents such as in 1986 in
Chernobyl and in 2011 in Fukushima. The public is extremely interested in learning more about
the movements and risks posed by radiation in the environment related to food supply and food
safety. Radionuclides are found in air water soil and even in us not only after nuclear
accidents because they occur also in nature. Every day we ingest and inhale radionuclides in
our air and food and the water. This book provides a solid underpinning of the basic
physical-chemistry and biogeochemistry of naturally occurring and anthrop radioactivity. The
mechanisms of radioactive element transfer in the atmosphere tropospheric and stratospheric
diffusion of radioactivity environmental contamination from accidents and the impact of
atmospheric pollution on the food chain soil and plants are analyzed and the analytical
methods are illustrated. The question of natural radioactivity concentration in building
materials is addressed too. While the book contains many case studies and data for Greece it
is of general value. It contributes to the development of international environmentally safe
standards and economically reasonable standard regulations based on justified radiological
social and economical legislation concepts.
