Russia says radiation levels rose by 4-16 times in city after accident: TASS

Greenpeace said the spike was higher.

By Reuters - August 14, 2019
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The city of Severodvinsk, on Russia’s White Sea coast, saw radiation spike after an accident there. (Igor Fedenko / CC BY 3.0)

MOSCOW — Radiation levels in the Russian city of Severodvinsk on the White Sea rose by up to 16 times on Aug. 8 after an accident that authorities said involved a rocket test on a sea platform, Russia’s state weather agency said on Tuesday, the TASS news agency reported.

The defense ministry initially said background radiation had remained normal after the incident on Thursday, but city authorities in Severodvinsk in northern Russia said there had been a brief spike in radiation levels.

[Russians in White Sea cities rush to buy iodine after blast causes radiation spike: reports]

Greenpeace has said radiation levels rose by 20 times.

Russia’s state weather agency, Rosgidromet, said on Tuesday that it believed radiation levels had risen by four to 16 times.

Reporting by Andrey Kuzmin.