A NUCLEAR accident has reportedly sent a cloud of radioactive pollution over Europe – but we shouldn’t be too worried, according to experts.
Ruthenium-106 particles have been detected by several European nations in recent weeks, but the French nuclear safety institute IRSN say the concentrations are not thought to be harmful.
IRSN said that the mysterious accident likely occurred at the end of September in Russia, or possibly Kazakhstan.
The institute explained it could not determine exactly where the accident took place, but based on weather patterns the most likely area lies south of the Ural mountains – which are in both nations.
Jean-Marc Peres, director of IRSN, told Reuters: “Russian authorities have said they are not aware of an accident on their territory,” adding that his team had not yet been in contact with Kazakh authorities.
Mr Peres added that the quantity of ruthenium-106 released was “major” – between 100 and 300 teraBecquerels – despite it being "harmless" to Europeans.
If an incident of the same magnitude had occurred in Western Europe it would have required the evacuation of people in a radius of a few kilometres around the accident site, he said.
The IRSN ruled out an accident involving a nuclear reactor, adding it was likely to have originated from a nuclear fuel treatment site or a radioactive medicine centre in Russia or Kazakhstan.
European citizens have been told they have “nothing to worry about” and that the nuclear release is nowhere near being on the scale of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
