Over 40 States Report No Increase In Radioactivity Levels After Suspected Spike - IAEA

More than 40 countries have reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that they had not observed increased concentrations of radioisotopes in the air, the IAEA said in a press release

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st July, 2020) More than 40 countries have reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that they had not observed increased concentrations of radioisotopes in the air, the IAEA said in a press release.

The IAEA has previously requested relevant information after countries in Norther Europe detected slightly elevated levels of different radioisotopes on their territory.

"By Tuesday afternoon, a total of 37 Member States in the European region ... had voluntarily reported to the IAEA that there were no events on their territories that may have caused the release. They also provided information about their own measurements and results," the IAEA said.

The list includes Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

"In addition, seven countries which have not been approached by the IAEA - Algeria, Georgia, Kuwait, Morocco, Tajikistan, the United Arab Emirates and the United States of America - also reported information about their measurements and said there had been no relevant events on their territories," the press release read.

According to the agency, apart from Estonia, Finland and Sweden, none of the other countries on the list said they had detected elevated radioisotope levels.

On Tuesday, Rafael Mariano Grossi, the chief of the IAEA, said that elevated levels of radioactive isotopes detected in northern Europe posed risk to human health or the environment.

Media reported that in early June, the nuclear and radiation safety authorities of Sweden, Norway and Finland recorded a slight increase in the concentration of radioactive isotopes of the so-called reactor origin in the atmosphere over the territory of Northern Europe.

A Dutch environmental agency said last week that isotopes could have originated from a nuclear fission incident in Russia. But Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the country's radiation monitoring system would have detected such an event.