The surface distribution of the degree of contamination in soil (expressed in kilobecquerels of cesium-137 per square meter) varies greatly from one part of Europe to another. In France, over 52% of the country received less than 1 kBq/m2 and contaminations above 10 kBq / m 2 were the exception. Contaminations in Austria, because of topography and rainfall, were much higher. An extreme case was Belarus, highly exposed because of its proximity to Chernobyl.