Quality Characteristics and Radioactive Contamination of Wood Pellet Imported in Italy

The problem of Caesium-137 (137 Cs) contamination of the imported wood pellet used for burning has been reported in Italy since June 2009. Since then, sampling and analysis were performed at the crossing border points of the provinces of Trieste and Gorizia, on request of the Health and Customs Border Bureau. This paper presents the results of the analysis performed on 65 samples from August 2010 to March 2012, which covered a total of products over 1500 tons of various origins, imported from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Most of the samples showed very low 137 Cs activity concentrations; only a few hot spots showed 137 Cs activity concentrations higher than 100 Bq∙kg−1. The results of dose evaluations for wood pellet stoves users under the hypotheses assumed in this study were largely below the threshold of radiological relevance.