Radiation jump puzzles Finns

Press, 12 June 1986, Page 10

Radiation jump puzzles Finns

NZPA-Reuter Helsinki Finnish experts were hoping to discover today why radiation in the southern port of Kotka jumped to levels four, times higher than the maximum levels recorded shortly after the Soviet nuclear accident at Chernobyl on April 26. Radiological Protection Board officials said samples taken in Kotka should show if the increased radiation had been caused by a nuclear test or nuclear energy and that it was unlikely the Chernobyl fallout was the reason for the jump. They said they excluded natural causes for the sudden increase in radiation, which started to rise on Tuesday morning to a peak of 1.8 millirontgen after which it fell to 0.04 and 0.08 millirontgen. The West German Environment Ministry said yesterday that it had official confirmation that radiation levels measured in Kotka had climbed to between 50 and 100 times above normal -before decreasing, and that it was increasing its own monitoring of radiation levels. The highest radiation level in Finland since the Chernobyl accident was recorded on the west coast, where 0.4 millirontgen was measured. The board said it did not exclude a meter error ‘as the reason for the peak recording in Kotka. It said other readings had given higher values than normal even yesterday. It said winds had blown from the south-west on Monday and the radiation might have come from neighbouring Sweden. But Swedish experts said they had checked all nuclearpower plants in Sweden and no radiation emission had been found. Swedish meteorologists said the wind patterns indicated that the radiation might be from the Baltic republic of Lithuania where a large nuclear plant is located, but did not give further