Nuclear waste released in Russia
MOSCOW (AP)
— Troops scooped
up contaminated
Siberian soil and
snow today after a tank holding
radioactive waste exploded in
what the government called the
worst nuclear accident sine* the
1986 Chernobyl disaster.
But Russian and foreign
experts said Tuesday’s explosion
at the Tomsk-7 nuclear weapons
complex posed little danger.
Workers were not evacuated
from the plant, and only one fire
man received a relatively high
dose of radiation, said Georgy
Kaurov, head of the Nuclear Ener
gy Ministry’s information depart
ment.
"It has been the single worst
accident since the (Chernobyl cat
astrophe," Kaurov said. "How
ever. it cannot lie compared to
Chernobyl ... You simply can t
compare them."
The uranium waste was
released when an underground
tank exploded and burned at
Tomsk-7, a secret military city
built in Siberia during the Sovi
et era. The Nuclear Energy Min
istry blamed a rise in pressure in
the tank caused when nitric acid
was added as a cleanser.
The explosion tore off a con
crete slab covering the tank and
short-circuited the plant's elec
trical systems, which set off a fire.
The State Emergency Commit
tee said radiation levels around
Tomsk-7 were .03 roentgens per
hour Wednesday. Northeast of
the plant, levels were 04 roent
gens
The average acceptable dose
for nuclear workers is 2 roentgens
per year, according to the Inter
national Commission on Radio
logical Protection The initial
radiation emission from Cher
nobyl was about 200 roentgens
an hour.
A roentgen, named for X-ray
discoverer Wilhelm Roentgen, is
a measure of radiation.
The accident was one of a
series in the former Soviet Union
since a reactor at the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant in Ukraine
exploded in 19B8. spewing radi
ation across Europe.
Monitoring stations in Scandi
navia and western Europe report
ed no increased levels of radia
tion today.
"The radioactive spill (In Rus
sia) is too limited and too small
to measure." said Sven Carlsson.
a spokesman for the Swedish
Radiation Protection Institute
Emergency experts flew to the
site today. Nearly 500 civil
defense troops were removing
soil and snow from the area, offi
cials said.
Local government leader Vik
tor Kress told the ITAR-Tnss
news agency that radiation had
been detected in a strip of land
about a half mile wide and five
miles long leading from the city.
Tomsk-7 is believed to he about
12 miles outside Tomsk, a city of
500,001) people about l .700 miles
east of Moscow. Tomsk-7 does
not appear on ordinary maps.
There wore no evacuations
planned.
Kaurov said the explosion was
considered a "third-class inci
dent" on the seven-point Inter
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scale.
The Chernobyl disaster rated
seven. Officials said 31 people
died at Chernobyl, but many
Ukrainian and western experts
say the figure is actually several
thousand.
Kaurov sold Tomsk-7 made
weapons-grade plutonium until
production was phased out three
years ago. He said the complex
now produces electricity and
hoots water.
In 1990, the Tomsk-7 complex
was blamed for contaminating
the Tom River with nuclear
waste. At least 38 people were
hospitalized.
A 1957 explosion at the secret
Chelyabinsk-flS plutonium pro
duction complex in the Ural
Mountains resulted in radiation
contamination of 217 towns and
villages Nearly 11.000 people
were evacuated, and local resi
dents maintain that dozens of
people died of cancer as a result.
During the Soviet era. secret
cities were set up across Russia
to work on military projects,
including the Soviet nuclear
weapons program
Kaurov said only one of 25 fire
men at Tomsk-7 received a dose
ofO.fi roentgens. But Roland Kin
ston. a health physicist at Stan
ford University in f’alo Alto.
Calif., said in a telephone inter
view that it takes about 25 roent
gens to cause a noticeable drop
in white blood cells.
The initial radiation emission
from Chernobyl was about 200
roentgens an hour
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