9 months ago
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Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) says the amount of Cesium discovered in the air filters is “very low” and “poses no risk for humans or the environment.”
The filters from Viksjøfjell and Svanhovd are analyzed at the emergency preparedness unit in Pasvik once a week. Radioactive Cesium-137 appeared sometime between September 9th and 12th.
DSA says no other radioactive isotopes were discovered when the filters were studied. Nor is it known whether any measurements on the Russian side of the border have similar results.
No other filters in northern Norway or Finnish Lapland have detected Cesium over the last week. Cesium-137 is formed as a fission product by operating a nuclear reactor.
There are numerous maritime reactors onboard submarines and icebreakers operating the Barents Sea out of bases along the coast of the Kola Peninsula. The large-scale strategic exercise Ocean-2024 ended on September 16, but it is unlikely that such releases are coming from a naval reactor in operation at sea. Small leakages of Cesium-137 are more likely to appear during start-up or maintenance of a reactor or from handling spent nuclear fuel.
There are currently a few nuclear-powered icebreakers moored at Atomflot in Murmansk.
