Russia Denies Nuclear Leak After Particles Detected In Another Country

From The Daily Caller

Nicholas Elias Contributor June 29, 2020 11:58 AM ET

Russia said Monday that it did not detect a radiation emergency after sensors discovered last week that strange nuclear particles were present in Sweden.

“We have an absolutely advanced radiation levels safety monitoring system and there are no any emergency alarms,” said Dimitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesperson, to Reuters, “We do not know the source of this information.” (RELATED: REPORT: Deadly Pakistan Plane Crash Occurred Due To Pilot’s ‘Human Error,’ Being Distracted By COVID-19 Fears)

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) said that it discovered nuclear particles in the air in Stockholm, Sweden, June 22-23. The group posted a map that showed several Baltic and Scandinavian countries, as well as a large part of western Russia.

The International Atomic Agency has asked countries if they have also detected the isotopes and is seeking to find an explanation for their presence, per Reuters. The Finnish nuclear authority STUK said that it also found nuclear particles along its southern coast but attributed them to “the normal operation or maintenance of nuclear reactors,” according to Reuters.

The Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment said Friday that the isotope’s composition “may indicate damage to a fuel element in a nuclear power plant,” per BBC. “Radiation levels at both NPPs and surrounding areas remained unchanged in June, and no changes are also observed at present,” said a spokesperson for Rosenergoatom Concern, the agency that operates the Leningrad and Kola nuclear plants, to TASS.

The particles, which the CTBTO said were “certainly nuclear fission products,” were caesium-134, caesium-137 and ruthenium-103 which are unusual but not harmful to humans, reported Reuters

0 0 votes
Article Rating
72 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
ResourceGuy
June 30, 2020 6:20 am

Send in CNN, NYT, LAT, WaPo, and MSNBC to investigate. This is a real emergency this time, not your daily agenda-driven, half-baked stuff.

MarkW
Reply to  ResourceGuy
June 30, 2020 7:18 am

This is Russia, do you believe that any of those would investigate or report honestly?

ResourceGuy
Reply to  MarkW
June 30, 2020 8:30 am

Forgot the /sarc tag which is almost required on this site

Greg
Reply to  MarkW
June 30, 2020 2:32 pm

“… no any emergency alarms,” said Dimitry Peskov

Despite the drama, NO ONE was ever claiming there was an “emergency”. There was a barely detectable increase, well withing safety limits. So Dimitry is certainly being perfectly honest and accurate.

That rather vague map with no geopolitical boundaries looks like “western Russia” also included Bielorussia and possible its border with northern Ukraine…. where Kiev ( oops, I mean Kyuef ) stands. Remeber Dynamo Kiev ? Now called Naturo Kiev since the “dynamo” is broken now 😉

Caesium-137, beta and gamma emitter with half life of circa 30y.
Caesium-134, beta emitter , half life circa 2y.
Ruthenium 103, beta emitter half life 39d.

The particles, which the CTBTO said were “certainly nuclear fission products,” were caesium-134, caesium-137 and ruthenium-103 which are unusual but not harmful to humans, reported Reuters.

Utter nonsense , all ionising radiation is harmful to humans ( and most other forms of life ). If they mean the levels detected are not harmful they should say that instead.

So-called science editors rarely have the slightest understanding of science.

Gary Pearse
Reply to  MarkW
June 30, 2020 8:21 pm

Didn’t we get an unexplained “kick” in the earth’s magnetic field a few days ago? Sounds like something bigger than non-emergency radiation happened somewhere.

Adam Gallon
Reply to  Gary Pearse
July 1, 2020 12:05 am

The two are unrelated.

Gary Pearse
Reply to  Adam Gallon
July 1, 2020 1:43 pm

I thought the sudden change in mag field was from an unknown cause? The exotic isotopes are also from an unknown cause. Science these days does appear to not need causes anymore.

Admin
June 30, 2020 6:20 am
Rocketscientist
Reply to  Eric Worrall
June 30, 2020 10:07 am

Naval incident that caused/required emergency venting of “hot” steam?

Greg
Reply to  Eric Worrall
June 30, 2020 2:36 pm

Rusky hyper-sonic “gliders” don’t glide a mk6 without a push.

Just don’t let the greens know your nuclear warheads are also using nuclear propulsion. They will probably applaud your for having “low carbon” doomsday devices.

2klbofun
June 30, 2020 6:24 am

Could they have come from the rumored nuclear accident in Iran?

MarkW
Reply to  2klbofun
June 30, 2020 7:19 am

Wind patterns would not carry particles from a Iranian accident up to Sweden.

Greg
Reply to  MarkW
June 30, 2020 3:11 pm

Stop trying to apply logic and reason. This is just tool used by the white patriarchy to oppress us !!

I mean, it must be Russia, Iran, N.K or Maduro. I suggest we sanction them all until one of them owns up to it.

ResourceGuy
June 30, 2020 6:34 am

Sorry, nuclear fallout from Russia does not fit with the global warming crusades in Europe. Let them glow in the dark while marching for smart, green causes.

MarkW
Reply to  ResourceGuy
June 30, 2020 7:20 am

Glowing in the dark would reduce the need for night time lights.

David Lilley
June 30, 2020 7:13 am

With the recent defections of Zion Lights and Michael Shellenberger from the Green Blob to the cause of nuclear power, there is a risk that the West might come to its senses over electricity generation. That would be bad news for Russia and countries further east, who have been watching with glee as the West dismantles its capability to provide its own power. This is serious. What could be done to stop this drift towards normal rational behaviour ? Well, why not release some radio isotopes to drift across the Baltic. That should galvanise the West’s nutcase groups into demanding a halt to any movement towards nuclear power generation. Easy peasy. Job done.

Loren C. Wilson
Reply to  David Lilley
June 30, 2020 10:04 am

That is a very interesting idea and merits more fact-finding to discover where and how this release happened. I apply Hanlon’s razor most of the time, which would imply that someone did something wrong at a Russian nuclear facility.

Analitik
Reply to  David Lilley
July 1, 2020 6:30 pm

Michael Shellenberger has been a long time proponent for nuclear power as the “solution” to climate change. His recent defection is from the climate change alarmist camp to climate change is real but not really an issue

MarkW
June 30, 2020 7:21 am

Didn’t Russia deny Chernobyl for several weeks?

Greg
Reply to  MarkW
June 30, 2020 2:39 pm

I thought Kiev ( oops Kyueif ) was in Ukraine, not Russia.

mcswell
Reply to  Greg
June 30, 2020 3:15 pm

Київ to you.

Adam Gallon
Reply to  Greg
July 1, 2020 12:08 am

It is, however at the time, the Soviet Union was still extant.

Harry Davidson
June 30, 2020 7:22 am

Am I being naive? That map looks more like an origination point in the North Sea?

Jørgen F.
Reply to  Harry Davidson
June 30, 2020 7:42 am

Hartlepool?

Reply to  Harry Davidson
June 30, 2020 7:44 am

Where came the wins from ?
In case of westerly winds these days you are certainly right.

MarkW
Reply to  Harry Davidson
June 30, 2020 8:15 am

Winds are blowing east to west. The point in the North Sea is where it was detected.

Reply to  MarkW
June 30, 2020 9:10 am

The whole time ? Actual the winds blow west to east, and the weather here didn’t change to much the last days.

MarkW
Reply to  Krishna Gans
June 30, 2020 10:29 am

Which direction the winds blow, depends on the latitude.

Greg
Reply to  MarkW
June 30, 2020 3:15 pm

We know the latitude, the direction of the winds depends upon the weather, specifically the loops of the Rosby waves crossing the Atlantic.

Harry Davidson
Reply to  MarkW
June 30, 2020 9:31 am

Right now on the east of England the wind is strongly WSW and it’s been like that for a few days. The archived charts from Meteo France show a low pressure over Scotland bringing south westerly winds up the through the North Sea to the Baltic.
https://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/archives/archives.php?day=28&month=6&year=2020&hour=0&type=ncep&map=0&type=ncep&region=&mode=0

Why do you say the winds are East to West?

Reply to  Harry Davidson
June 30, 2020 11:52 am

Talking bollox again.
Wind in the Baltic states has been north to north east for months now with a spring/summer a month late.
It’s been driving us crazy (freeeezing!), AND on top of that it’s often from the EAST too.

Better know what you are talking about when referring to our Baltic weather.
We LIVE on the sea here where the temperature can jump from 20C to 4C in the space of a few hours or back again!

Reply to  pigs_in_space
June 30, 2020 2:46 pm

We live in calgary where in winter the temp can go from -35c to +10c in 30 minutes.
Shock to the system

And fooled Dicaprio into thinking he saw the end of the world

Reply to  MarkW
June 30, 2020 11:02 am

No, they are not.
Wind ha been broadly SW all week

TRM
Reply to  Leo Smith
June 30, 2020 4:58 pm
Harry Davidson
Reply to  Harry Davidson
June 30, 2020 9:42 am

I included the wrong link in my reply to MarkW. Here is the weather map for 23.6.20,
https://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/archives/archives.php?day=23&month=6&year=2020&hour=0&type=ncep&map=0&type=ncep&region=&mode=0
With that pressure map as far as I can see the wind would be blowing from the south west across the whole region.

Reply to  Harry Davidson
June 30, 2020 11:02 am

So it was from a nuclear submarine off the coast of Yorkshire?

Greg
Reply to  Leo Smith
June 30, 2020 3:06 pm

Yes, I thought it was strange the pointy end of that plume being on the western end.

Since the “possible source region” streches almost as far west as it does east, it seems they do not have much idea at all.

J Mac
Reply to  Harry Davidson
June 30, 2020 10:02 am

Wind direction will continually vary with mesoscale low/high pressure systems passing through and around the area of concern.

Harry Davidson
Reply to  J Mac
June 30, 2020 10:21 am

Which have been fairly constant over the period, or do I have post a whole series?

The evidence from the archive weather maps is absolutely clear. I suggest you go and look at it.

Ron Long
June 30, 2020 7:35 am

Two comments. 1. The radiation levels are not cited in this report, and very low levels of the isotopes from fission reactors are common in the air at non-harmful levels, almost always associated with removal and recycling of the spent fuel rods, and 2. The Pakistan pilots were not distracted, they were unqualified (both via poor training/certification and by lack of mental ability to focus on emergency) and the engines did not quit-the pilots maintained a high speed on the approach and tried to put the wheels down at too high of a speed and they wouldn’t go down, then they tried to force a landing at too high of a speed and without the wheels down, with the three red lights from gear down fault glaring at them the whole time (RCL FAA Air Traffic Controller Certificate 1904664).

roger murphy
June 30, 2020 7:54 am

Perhaps this is fake news generated to blunt the effect of Shellenberg’s bombshell book supporting nuclear energy.

Adam Gallon
Reply to  roger murphy
July 1, 2020 12:10 am

What bombshell? It’s passed unnoticed by 99% of the world’s population.

Analitik
Reply to  roger murphy
July 1, 2020 6:32 pm

Michael Shellenberger has been a long time proponent for nuclear power as the “solution” to climate change. His recent defection is from the climate change alarmist camp to climate change is real but not really an issue

June 30, 2020 8:33 am

Leningrad?

June 30, 2020 8:44 am

Latest surface winds look west to east in most of that area, tho can’t say what it was at the detection time:
https://www.windy.com/-Rain-thunder-rain?rain,57.445,15.974,5

Harry Davidson
June 30, 2020 9:32 am

Right now on the east of England the wind is strongly WSW and it’s been like that for a few days. The archived charts from Meteo France show a low pressure over Scotland bringing south westerly winds up the through the North Sea to the Baltic.
https://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/archives/archives.php?day=28&month=6&year=2020&hour=0&type=ncep&map=0&type=ncep&region=&mode=0

Why do you say the winds are East to West?

Harry Davidson
Reply to  Harry Davidson
June 30, 2020 10:13 am

This comment got 409 error on first post and has gone into the wrong place, the 2nd attempt worked. This copy should be deleted, if possible.

Reply to  Harry Davidson
June 30, 2020 11:30 am

Hard to tell, could’ve had very light east winds on the 22nd in that area — brief, weak high-pressure center over southeast Finland:
https://www.meteociel.fr/modeles/archives/archives.php?day=22&month=6&year=2020&hour=0&type=ncep&map=0&type=ncep&region=&mode=0

Carbomontanus
June 30, 2020 9:47 am

With high pre4ssure in southe4rn scandinavia, like it waqs in those days, it may very well blow from the east to the west.

A next question, since the reports say it is not dangerous to humans, is whether it may be below russian detection limits for making alarm. Kryllic understanding may easily be slightly different.

Harry Davidson
Reply to  Carbomontanus
June 30, 2020 10:14 am

The pressure map from 23.6.20 makes it very clear the wind was from the south west.

June 30, 2020 9:47 am

Let’s see . . . reporting from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) and Finland (STUK) versus a statement issued by the Kremlin. Who to believe?

I think is a most basic example of a “no brainer”.

Reply to  Gordon A. Dressler
June 30, 2020 11:06 am

If that is the pattern then it is highly suggestive of a point source in the UK diffusing as it travels east
Mr Watts is a meteorologist.He will tell you what the wind direction was, then, at surface to low altitude

mikewaite
June 30, 2020 10:07 am

The observations that the distribution is spreading wider as one looks from the north sea to the Baltic and on towards the Urals suggests a starting point among the wind farms off the NE coast of England. Also the concentration is restricted to the low lying land areas and sea, and avoids the mountains of southern Norway , but passing over the lowlands of southern Sweden and northern Denmark. Like a low lying sea mist or haar drifting and widening eastward from its origin . Did someone dump some spent fuel elements in that area off the English coast at some time in the past, which have subsequently eroded?

Reply to  mikewaite
June 30, 2020 10:29 am

To exercise submarine warfare and ASW (Anti-submarine Warfare) war-fighting for submarines, ASW surface units and maritime patrol aircrafts in order to conduct sea control or sea denial related naval tasks in preparation for future collective defence and crisis response operations.
29 June – 10 July North Sea

NATO Exercises
Further

Carl Friis-Hansen
Reply to  mikewaite
June 30, 2020 10:38 am

I like your reasoning. Patterns spread with the wind and does not funnel. Thus logically the origin is most likely the fisher banks in the North Sea.
However, I fail to understand how it is possible to draw such a pattern with so few measuring stations.
Is it just another PR-stunt?

mikewaite
June 30, 2020 10:19 am

It is more likely that the origin is from a spot in the north sea , diffusing outwards as it moves east , than an origin over a 1000 mile area of Russia between the Urals and the coast , then concentrating down to a point in the North Sea , where it then stops. Also the contaminants are only detected at sea level, or over lowlying landscapes in Russia, Southern Sweden and Northern Denmark , but avoiding the montains of Southern Norway. Like a low sea mist or haar , slowly drifting east from an origin somewhere in the forest of wind turbines off the NE coast of England. Was a canister of spent fuel elements dumped there in the past , and slowly eroding? Do the radioactive elements appear in north Sea cod? Don’t mean to be alarmist , but cod is one of our weekly , non meat – day , meals .

Harry Davidson
Reply to  mikewaite
June 30, 2020 11:29 am

Very much to the point, the archive of pressure maps for the area shows a SW wind throughout the period.

Latitude
Reply to  Harry Davidson
June 30, 2020 2:09 pm

like Russia would even admit they have a submarine

mikewaite
Reply to  mikewaite
June 30, 2020 12:35 pm

Apologies for double post . Got a 409 error on first attempt in chrome so changed to firefox (my usual) and tried again.

June 30, 2020 10:41 am

Sounds similar to an event that happened in 2019.

Back then, Roshydromet (Russian weather agency) reported a brief spike in γ-radiation at 16 times the normal level in the city of Severodvinsk, up on the White sea coast.

That region is home to Russian military R&D sites that could be working on the 9M730 Burevestnik missile.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9M730_Burevestnik

The isotopes found in rain and air samples at the time were: strontium-91, barium-139, barium-140 and lanthanum-140.

It also falls within the area covered by the orange zone on their map.

ResourceGuy
June 30, 2020 11:06 am

They will let everyone know after all the VIP families have been moved out of the way on trains ahead of the general population.

Neo
June 30, 2020 12:14 pm

Didn’t this “leak” start on the same day as the gravitational wave story ?

Prjindigo
June 30, 2020 2:20 pm

Russia/USSR has enough radiological surface detritus and particulate debris that the current hightened temperatures may have simply finally dried out the soil enough to allow them to be blown by winds.

Why does nobody else on Earth think the way I do?

Reply to  Prjindigo
June 30, 2020 2:55 pm

Could be
New thinking, fresh eyes

ResourceGuy
Reply to  Prjindigo
June 30, 2020 3:00 pm

Interesting

Adam Gallon
Reply to  Prjindigo
July 1, 2020 12:15 am

Because one isotope has a 2 year half life & another with just 39 days?

John Andrews
June 30, 2020 2:49 pm

Cs-134 and Cs-137 make it look like fairly old, but not ancient fission products. The presence of Ru-103 indicates that the source was Pu-239 fuel. These three nuclides can be identified by gamma spectroscopy at fairly low levels, well below the levels of requirements for radiation protection. The half life of Ru-103 is about 40 days so it does not last long in the environment. So the source fission is probably within the last year or so.

Kari H
June 30, 2020 5:18 pm

Origin of the leak seems to be very near of submarine dockyard near Arkangel.

From Google earth you can see two nuclear powered subs in drydocked.

Russians do these leaks all the time. I am from Finland and we know this.

Kari H
June 30, 2020 5:53 pm

New Borei class subs ? In Google earth you can measure distances and those match. You can see reactor room hatches open in the left of 2 subs in Google earth pictures? Abnormal boats around the sub.

Krudd Gillard of the Commondebt of Australia
June 30, 2020 10:27 pm

BLM protest by crew on US Nuclear sub named after confederate general got a bit out of control? Like, they tried to tear down the sub. Or, maybe, too many took the knee at the same time at one end of the sub?

July 4, 2020 12:33 am

Germany has proven that wind and solar are not workable without storage. Likewise, they have demonstrated that storage, except for brief periods measured in minutes not days, is not and because of physics will never be affordable. Their current fools errand is attempting to use excess wind and solar electrical power on windy sunny days to produce hydrogen for use as a transportation fuel. That eco-dream will surely end quickly. Very likely their scheduled nuclear plant shutdowns will be postponed.

Nuclear construction, if there is going to be any, in the 2030-2050 time frame will be SMR’s. These plants are affordable because 1) They are cookie cutter identical and built in a factory instead of on-site. 2) Once the first unit is operational in 2028 (unless the Democrats kill it) permitting costs, delays and unanticipated developments become minimal. 3) Large scale CCGT generators will become the dominant power source over the next 30-40 years. When small increments of generating capacity are required and as NG reserves are slowly depleted SMR’s will incrementally and cost effectively lead us into the eventual and inevitable nuclear dominated energy age. Molten salt, thorium, Generation 5,6 or whatever won’t be major contributors prior to 2060 (IMHO). The most important energy effort for the next few years is ending the bio-fuel, wind and solar farce.