Norway Detects Radiation Contamination Near Border with Russia

The Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) has detected radioactive cesium-137 at two stations near the border with Russia.

This is reported by The Barents Observer.

Radioactive cesium-137, which is formed as a fission product during the operation of a nuclear reactor, appeared in samples from two radiation monitoring stations in Norway - Vikshofjell (5-12 September) and Svanhovd (9-16 September).

DSA spokesman Bredo Møller said the levels of cesium-137 are higher than normal, but do not pose a risk to people or the environment. He said the DSA will conduct more tests over the next few days, but expects ‘they will also be at the same level’.

DSA says it is also unknown whether any measurements on the Russian side of the border have similar results.

No other stations in northern Norway or Finnish Lapland have detected the peak cesium level of 137 in the past week.

Møller noted that the cesium could come from forest fires - when old trees burn, radioactive elements can be released into the air and carried by the wind. These elements, he added, were deposited on trees after the Chornobyl accident, or even from nuclear testing before 1962, and can still be measured in nature.

In addition, Russian submarines and icebreakers in the Barents Sea, which use nuclear reactors, could be one source of this element.

According to Reuters, on Wednesday, the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority said that elevated levels of radioactive cesium (Cs-137) detected near the Arctic border with Russia are likely to be linked to a forest fire near Chernobyl in Ukraine.

‘The DSA always finds cesium at all air filter stations in Norway, and this is often due to mixing of dust from old fallout from the Chernobyl accident,’ the agency said in an update published on Wednesday.

‘This time, a forest fire around Chernobyl is most likely to blame,’ the DSA added.