‘Rosatom facility not source of high Ruthenium-106’

CHENNAI: Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) has denied reports that Mayak Production Association, one of its biggest nuclear facilities in Russian federation, is the source of exceeded content of Ruthenium-106 in the atmosphere.

In a statement, Rosatom Press Secretary for South Asia Alexander Antipin rejected a report published in The New Indian Express on November 21 and said that all energy units of Russian nuclear power plants have been and are operated carefully and bear the load in accordance with the operations schedule. “There are no deficiencies in equipment operation or any violation of operational safety at Rosatom facility. The radiation situation around all nuclear facilities of the Russian Federation is normal and corresponds to the natural radiation background,” he said.

“Roshydromet’s data on isotope contamination with ruthenium-106 allow us to conclude that the dose that could have been received by a person is 20,000 times less than the maximum permissible annual dose and does not pose any danger to human health and life,” Rosatom said.

“The first data on increased values of the volume activity of Ru-106 in the atmosphere was recorded simultaneously in the countries of Western Europe, in Tatarstan, Volgograd and the Southern Urals at the same levels (10-20 mBq / m3). Extremely high concentrations of Ru-106 in the atmosphere were recorded in Slovakia (29-30.09.2017) and in Romania (September 30, 2017), which are located at a distance of about 3,000 km from FSUE Mayak Production Association”. The atmospheric pollution by the isotope Ruthenium-106, indicated in the report of Roshydromet, is not related to the activities of the FSUE Mayak Production Association, the statement added.

In 2017, there was no production of the ruthenium-106 sources at FSUE ‘Mayak Production Association’, emissions to the atmosphere were in the usual regulatory values. Radiation background is normal.
“We additionally inform that we haven’t done the separation of ruthenium-106 from the spent nuclear fuel in our company for many years now. Thus, FSUE “Mayak Production Association” is not a source of the increased ruthenium-106 content in atmosphere,” it added.