40 years after the explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear plant in what was then the Soviet Union, parts of Sweden are still heavily contaminated with nuclear fall-out, a report by Swedish national broadcasting company SVT shows.
Hunting for wild boars is still relatively popular in parts of Sweden, and so is the meat of the animals. But according to the Swedish Food Authority (Livsmedelsverket) shot animals in especially the Uppland region near Uppsala and Gävleborg near Gävle still show way too high levels of radioactive cesium-137.
Reactor 4 exploded
On 26 April 1986, Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, nowadays Ukraine, exploded. It was located near the border of Belarus, about 110 kilometres (70 miles) north of Kyiv. A huge radioactive cloud spread over parts of Europe. Due to rain conditions the radioactivity came down in higher concentrations in the area east of the Swedish cities of Uppsala and Gävle.
Forsmark
Here, Sweden also has one of its own three major nuclear power complexes (3 reactors) and it was here at Forsmark that the higher levels were first recorded. By then the Soviet leadership of Mikael Gorbachev had been quiet for days, despite a clear and present danger for people’s health far beyond of the borders of the Soviet Union. | © 2026 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com (text and photo). Featured image: a wild board in Sweden (Photo: Marcel Burger)