Russia Finally Acknowledges Radiation Clouds Over Europe But Denies Responsibility

For months now, European monitoring agencies have been detecting radioactive clouds over several EU countries. These agencies have been speculating that these clouds may be coming from Russia. However, not only did Russia deny that this was the case, it outright denied that the radioactive clouds existed up until recently.

The monitoring agencies started noticing the radioactive clouds last September but it wasn’t until November 21st that Russia’s own meteorology agency Roshydromet acknowledged the findings, Futurism reports. These findings include the elevated levels of the radioactive isotope called ruthenium-106, which is found in the heavy metal Ruthenium.

According to the data by the French Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRNS), between September 27th and October 13th, the isotope was found in the atmosphere over France. After investigating the matter, the agency concluded that the source is somewhere around Russia’s Volga and the Urals regions.

Roshydromet’s own findings concluded that there was an “extremely high contamination” of the isotope; about 1,000 times above normal levels. However, the head of the Russian agency, Maxim Yakovenko denies that his country was the cause of the elevated levels of radiation, the New York Times reports.

“The published data is not sufficient to establish the location of the pollution source,” Yakovenko said.

What’s more, Russia’s state-run nuclear company Rosatom also said that none of its plants have experienced any accidents that could have contributed to the rise in radiation afflicting Europe. The company also pointed out that the highest concentrations of the isotope could be found in regions outside of Russia.

The same string of denials came from various nuclear plants and companies, including those in Kazakhstan. In any event, it would seem that there is actually no reason to worry that this incident could lead to any health issues. According to the IRNS, the level of ruthenium-106 in the atmosphere is nowhere near enough to cause damage to humans or the environment.