Russia confirms spike in radioactivity in the Urals

Taiga forest and river in the northeast Prepolar Ural Mountains. Located near Saranpaul in Khanty-Mantsiya Autonomous Okrug, Tyumen Oblast, Russia. Trees include Picea obovata (dominant on right bank), Larix sibirica, Pinus sibirica, and Betula pendula. (Photo By ugraland, CC BY 2.0)

MOSCOW — Russian authorities have confirmed reports of a spike in radioactivity in the air over the Ural Mountains.

France’s nuclear safety agency earlier this month recorded radioactivity in the area between the Volga River and the Ural Mountains from a suspected accident involving nuclear fuel or the production of radioactive material. It said the release of the isotope Ruthenium-106 posed no health or environmental risks to European countries.

The Russian Meteorological Service said in a statement Tuesday that it recorded the release of Ruthenium-106 in the southern Urals in late September and classified it as “extremely high contamination.

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After the first reports, Russia’s state-controlled Rosatom corporation said in a statement last month that it hadn’t come from its facilities.