As Germany ends nuclear era activist says still more to do

A demonstrator takes part in a protest against the shut down of the last three German nuclear power plants, in Berlin, Germany, April 15, 2023. REUTERS/Nadja Wohlleben

BERLIN (Reuters) - Heinz Smital was a 24-year-old nuclear physics researcher when he first saw how far nuclear contamination could spread after the Chornobyl disaster in 1986.

A few days after it occurred he waved a damp cloth out of a window at the University of Vienna to sample the city's air and was shocked by how many radionuclides could be seen under a microscope.