Fears of radioactive leak near disaster site

RUSSIA’S meteorological service has reported “extremely high pollution” of a radioactive isotope in the Urals near a facility that suffered the third worst nuclear catastrophe in history.

The news bolsters international reports that a ruthenium-106 leak originating in the Urals sent a radioactive cloud over Europe. Greenpeace Russia has said it will ask the prosecutor general to investigate the possible coverup of a nuclear accident.

Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear company, has continued to deny the leak.

Its Mayak facility, where an explosion in 1957 contaminated a swathe of central Russia, told state news agency RIA Novosti yesterday that it had not processed nuclear fuel with ruthenium-106 this year. The isotope, which doesn’t occur naturally, was detected in Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland in late September. France’s nuclear safety institute said the “major” radiation leak likely occurred between the Urals and the Volga river.

Rosatom said in October the “account of a supposed Russian origin of the pollution is baseless”. In a statement to The Telegraph, Rosatom said there had been “no unreported accidents” and the ruthenium-106 emission was “not linked to any Rosatom site”.