Russia Confirms High Levels Of Radioactive Ruthenium Isotope In The Urals

Extremely high concentrations of the radioactive isotope ruthenium-106 (Ru-106) had been recorded at the station in Argayash, a village in the Chelyabinsk region in the Southern Urals, confirmed Russia's meteorological service Monday.

The high pollution of Ru-106 has exceeded the natural background pollution by 986 times.

According to the translated report from a local publication LentaRu, Deputy Director of the Institute of Industrial Ecology of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ilya Yarmoshenko, affirmed that there was no danger from the emission of radiation and the concentration of Ru-106 in the Urals.

Yarmoshenko explained that the fixed values ​​for Ru-106 are 4.4 to 4.6 Becquerel per cubic meter which means that in one cubic meter of the air examined for 100 seconds there were approximately five corrosions. For better understanding one can look into the average radon values ​​in ordinary apartments which is 10 times higher.

He also denied needing to resettle the village of Argayash. He explained that even though the natural background pollution has been exceeded by 986 times, in comparison with the previous month, there is no necessity to resettle the Argayash village. In the neighboring village of Novogorny the natural background pollution has been exceeded by 440 times.

Yarmoshenko was more concerned about finding the source of the pollution in the area.

Though the source of the pollution has not been specified, in 1957 the Argayash station which is about 30 kilometers from the Mayak nuclear facility was the site of one of the worst nuclear disasters in history.

According to the science publication Phys.Org, the pollution was probably due to an accident that involved nuclear fuel or the production of radioactive material, somewhere between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains. However, it is said that the release of the isotope Ruthenium-106 posed no health or environmental risks to European countries.

According to the Washington Post, the Russian meteorological office’s report noted high levels of radiation in the villages adjacent to Rosatom’s Mayak plant for spent nuclear fuel.

In a statement released by Mayak, the plant on Tuesday denied being the source of contamination. The plant said it has not conducted any work on extracting Ru-106 from spent nuclear fuel for many years, reported the Post.

Mayak, in the Chelyabinsk region, has been responsible for at least two of Russia’s biggest radioactive accidents. In 2004 it was confirmed that waste was being dumped in the local river, which according to the nuclear regulators doesn’t happen anymore.

Environmental pressure group Greenpeace said Tuesday that it would petition the Russian Prosecutor General’s office to investigate "a possible concealment of a radiation accident" and check if public health was sufficiently protected.