'Radioactivity buzzes in city buildings' in Russia

["Tsurikov, Nick" <ntsuriko@rgc.com.au>]

Dear friends,

The following was published in  "Saint Petersburg Times" on Friday, 19
March. 
(http://www.sptimes.ru/current/news/radioactivity.htm) I found it is quite
interesting.

Kind regards
Nick Tsurikov
Eneabba, Western Australia
e-mail: ntsuriko@rgc.com.au
World Collection of Radiation Links:
http://www.westnet.net.au/Walkabout/
>>>>>>>>>

Radioactivity Buzzes in City Buildings
By Anna Badkhen
STAFF WRITER
Dozens of radioactive objects have been found in a number of the city's
most-visited public buildings, including the State Hermitage Museum, the
Russian Museum and City Hall. 
The discoveries were made in the course of a radioactivity cleansing
program, Radiatsiya, launched last year by the city Department for
Environmental Safety. 
According to Vladimir Zhukov, the department official heading the effort,
more than 20 St. Petersburg buildings - including the Mariinsky Theater and
Smolny, home to City Hall - have been checked with Geiger counters so far.
More than 20 radiation-emitting objects have been detected and removed in
course of the project, he said.
On Monday, a watch covered in radioactive paint was found in the photo lab
of the Hermitage, the world's largest museum. A chunk of uranium was also
found in the office of the museum's archeological department. The museum
checkup is scheduled to be completed by May. 
Last year, several gas masks covered with a radioactive paint similar to
that on the Hermitage watch were removed from the administrative building of
the city's Nevsky district. The environmental authorities also discovered a
number of radioactive fire extinguishers in the Russian Museum, as well as a
few objects they refused to identify in Smolny, which serves as headquarters
to City Hall. 
Zhukov said the most common source of radioactive contamination are 1940s
military watches and measuring devices. 
"Soviet doctors prohibited the production of such measuring devices in the
1950s, but many organizations and households still keep old military
watches," Zhukov said in a telephone interview Thursday. "Not many people
are aware of the potential danger of these antiques."
According to Zhukov, the watches - which usually emit up to 1,000 microrem
per hour within a radius of several centimeters - are not dangerous if not
worn constantly for years. For example, he said, the radiation level just a
few meters away from the watch in the Hermitage photo lab did not exceed the
standard safety level of 30 microrem per hour. 
However, Zhukov said, if the radioactive paint used on the watch's face is
ingested, it may cause internal damage and ulcers. 
The chunk of uranium found at the Hermitage emitted 1,200 microrem per hour.

All the objects collected have been taken to a specially equipped container
and will later be transferred to a storage facility in Sosnovy Bor, hometown
of the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, some 80 kilometers west of St.
Petersburg.
Zhukov said the municipally-funded Radiatsiya program will also conduct
similar checkups in cinemas, city firms, schools and kindergartens.
Meanwhile, officials at the center for environmental services say they will
conduct checkups of private offices and apartments for a mere 147 rubles
(just over $6) per 100 square meters.
 
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