Report: Russia Radiation Level High

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Friday December 25 3:48 PM ET 

MOSCOW (AP) - Radioactive waste dumped by the Soviet Union in 
Arctic seas is leaking through its containers, causing radiation 
levels to reach up to 100 times normal in some areas, officials said 
Friday.  

Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said radiation levels in 
waters off the Novaya Zemlya archipelago exceed the norm dozens 
of times, and in the nearby Stepovoi Gulf by 100 times, the ITAR-
Tass news agency reported.  

Radiation levels in the Barents Sea are also above normal, the 
ministry said.  

Several containers that the Soviet Union used in Arctic radioactive 
dumps in the 1960s have become depressurized and toxic waste is 
leaking out, the ministry said.  

Chemical weapons dumps in the Baltic Sea are also causing 
contamination with heavy metals and arsenic, the ministry said, 
citing a study it conducted over the past three years.  

Sediment concentrations of heavy metals in several areas of the 
Baltic Sea are 10 to 100 times above normal levels, and arsenic 
levels are also high, the ministry said, according to ITAR-Tass.  


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Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

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