The source of a mysterious radioactive leak that swept Europe in 2017 has been traced to a nuclear processing plant in the southern Ural mountains in Russia, a new study confirms.
Scientists analysed more than 1,300 data points all over the world to find the source of the enormous leak, which released 100 times more radiation in Europe than 2011’s Fukushima disaster. The source -which is believed to be the Russian Mayak facility – was not a reactor accident but an incident in a nuclear reprocessing plant, researchers found.
Russia has always denied the facility was the source and no official statement has been released in response to this latest research.
The alarm bell was raised in October 2017 by Italian scientists who noticed a spike of the radioactive ruthenium-106. It was then detected in many European countries as well as in Asia, the Arabian Peninsula and even in the Caribbean.
The fact that ruthenium was the only radioactive material detected suggested the source was a nuclear reprocessing plant, as reactor accidents typically release a number of different elements. Scientists could pinpoint the release to between 6pm on September 25, 2017 to noon the following day.
“We measured radioactive ruthenium-106. The measurements indicate the largest singular release of radioactivity from a civilian reprocessing plant,” said Georg Steinhauser, a researcher from the University of Hannover. The data was taken from 176 measuring stations in 29 countries.
Scientists analysed more than 1,300 data points all over the world to find the source of the enormous leak, which released 100 times more radiation in Europe than 2011’s Fukushima disaster. The source -which is believed to be the Russian Mayak facility – was not a reactor accident but an incident in a nuclear reprocessing plant, researchers found.
Russia has always denied the facility was the source and no official statement has been released in response to this latest research.
The alarm bell was raised in October 2017 by Italian scientists who noticed a spike of the radioactive ruthenium-106. It was then detected in many European countries as well as in Asia, the Arabian Peninsula and even in the Caribbean.
The fact that ruthenium was the only radioactive material detected suggested the source was a nuclear reprocessing plant, as reactor accidents typically release a number of different elements. Scientists could pinpoint the release to between 6pm on September 25, 2017 to noon the following day.
“We measured radioactive ruthenium-106. The measurements indicate the largest singular release of radioactivity from a civilian reprocessing plant,” said Georg Steinhauser, a researcher from the University of Hannover. The data was taken from 176 measuring stations in 29 countries.
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