VIENNA (Reuters) – Radiation sensors in Stockholm have detected higher-than-normal but still harmless levels of nuclear fission-produced isotopes, likely from or near the Baltic Sea, an agency operating a global network said on Friday. of sensors.
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) oversees a network of hundreds of monitoring stations that use seismic, hydroacoustic and other technology to verify a nuclear weapons test anywhere in the world. However, that technology can also be used for other uses.
One of its stations that scans the air for radionuclides, telltale radioactive particles that the wind can carry long distances, detected unusually high levels of three radionuclides earlier this week: cesium-134, cesium-137, and ruthenium-103.
The Stockholm monitoring station “detected 3 isotopes; Cs-134, Cs-137 and Ru-103 associated with nuclear fission @ major[ ] than usual levels (but not harmful to human health), “CTBTO chief Lassina Zerbo said on Twitter (here) on Friday night.
The particles were detected on “June 22/23”, he added.
Zerbo’s post included a borderless map showing where the particles might have come from in the 72 hours prior to their detection: a large area (here) covering the tips of Denmark and Norway, as well as southern Sweden, large part of Finland, Baltic countries and part of western Russia, including Saint Petersburg.
“These are certainly nuclear fission products, most likely from a civilian source,” said a Vienna-based CTBTO spokeswoman, referring to the atomic chain reaction that generates heat in a nuclear reactor.
“We can indicate the probable region of the source, but it is outside the CTBTO’s mandate to identify the exact origin,” he added.
Report by Francois Murphy; Edited by David Gregorio
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