A Russian scientific commission will investigate reports of radioactive pollution almost 1,000 times above normal levels in the southern Urals, state nuclear company Rosatom said Friday. The move comes despite Russia’s denial that a nuclear accident had occurred at any of its nuclear facilities. “Nuclear scientists have created a commission to discover the origin of ruthenium-106,” Rosatom said in a statement, also released by the country’s Nuclear Safety Institute. The commission will include representatives of “Russian and European scientific organisations,” according to the statement. “Rosatom will offer all necessary assistance to this commission and will inform the public of the results.”
Phys Org 25th Nov 2017 read more »
Linda Pentz Gunter: September 29 marked the 60th anniversary of the world’s third most deadly— and least known — nuclear accident. It took place at the Mayak plutonium production facility, in a closed Soviet city in the Urals. The huge explosion was kept secret for decades. It spread hot particles over an area of more than 20,000 square miles, exposing a population of at least 270,000 and indefinitely contaminating land and rivers. Entire villages had to be bulldozed. Residents there have lived for decades with high rates of radiologically induced illnesses and birth defects. Now, evidence is emerging of a potentially new nuclear accident and indications point once again to Mayak as one of the likely culprits. Ironically, if there was indeed an accident there, it happened on or around the precise anniversary of the 1957 disaster. The Research Institute of Atomic Reactors in Dimitrovgrad in the region is another possible suspect.
Counterpunch 24th Nov 2017 read more »
