Unusually high Gamma Radiation spike near Lithuanian decomissioned nuclear plant

I cannot find anything in the news media about this yet to either confirm or debunk this - please see if you can find anything.

The only information is from the web site of the EU's JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE, EUropean Radiological Data Exchange Platform - information about them from their web site:

What We Do

EURDEP (EUropean Radiological Data Exchange Platform) makes unvalidated radiological monitoring data from most European countries available in nearly real-time.

The main aim of the platform is to notify and inform competent authorities and the general public during the early phase of a large-scale accident with release of radioactivity to the atmosphere as early and extensively as possible.

The participation of the EU Member States is regulated by the Council Decision 87/600 and the Recommendation 2000/473/Euratom. The participation of non-EU countries is on a voluntary basis.

Wish to know what exactly EURDEP does? Get introduced to the "ABOUT section on this site".

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Here's some info about the nuclear plant undergoing decommissioning:

Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant

Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant is a planned nuclear power plant project in Lithuania. It was proposed to be built at the site of the closed Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, which was shut down on 31 December 2009 in accordance with Lithuania's accession agreement to the European Union.[1] The two reactors of the Ignalina plant are currently undergoing a decommissioning process.

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The site reports a recording of an increase over approximately a weeks time span in Gamma Radiation from a normal background level of ~100 nSv (nano-Sieverts) to a level of ~1.5 million nSv (equal to 1.5 Sieverts). In this linked page, look at the map that comes up, click on the dark blue hexagon at the far right of Lithuania and then look to the lower left side of the page for a list of monitoring sites - scroll down the list to "Visaginas_20367" and click on it to bring up the pop-up window showing the actual readings from the site.

You will see that the spike persisted for an approximately two day period as if a Gamma Radiation Source had been slowly exposed over a weeks time, then left completely exposed to the open for two days, then either covered with soil or concrete over an approximately two hour period until the monitor registered ~200,000 nSv as if the primary source had been covered and now only material in the area that was contaminated by the primary source was registering on the monitor. Based on my training in Radioactive Emergencies, and the evidence from the monitoring site, alone suggests a dangerous and unplanned exposure of a major Gamma Source, an evacuation of the area until a plan to mitigate the exposed source could be devised, and then a rapid implementation of the plan to cover the source which took a few hours to accomplish.

Now, a lethal dose (LD/50/30 - lethal dose in over 50% of the population over a 30 day period) of Gamma Radiation is can range from 3.5 Sieverts to 5 Sieverts (3.5 to 5 million nSv). The LD/10-35 (lethal dose in 10% to 35% of the population) which at it's very least will cause very severe nausea, hair loss, and hemorrhaging, is 2.0 to 3.5 Sieverts. Again, the unconfirmed (as far as I can research) reading at the monitoring site is at ~1.5 Sieverts. I hope you can now see the potential here.

All the consequences I listed above are immediate reactions to that level of a dose of Gamma Radiation and do not include long term formations of cancers from radiation poisoning.

If the monitoring site's data holds true and is confirmed, then the death toll from this potential event could be staggering.

Again, I can't confirm that the monitoring site's data is accurate, or of it is some sort of anomaly. The surrounding sites show no increase in background radiation, so there is that leans toward a misread by the monitoring site - however, any potentially exposed source could have been deep, surrounded by berms which would prevent lateral radiation hence protecting the surrounding communities from direct exposure - Gamma is a light ray, not a particle that could be spread by wind or cross contamination on people or vehicles, and would be deflected or absorbed by a properly constructed berm as is required to be placed around Gamma sources during a nuclear plant decommissioning, which could explain the low readings from surrounding communities.

If anyone can find out anything, please post it here.

Beaudreaux said:

I cannot find anything in the news media about this yet to either confirm or debunk this - please see if you can find anything.

The only information is from the web site of the EU's JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE, EUropean Radiological Data Exchange Platform - information about them from their web site:

<snip>

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Excellent & informative post Beaudreaux, and definitely deserved of some likes & responses IMO.

So after reviewing your links, here's my random thoughts:

In the possibility it was a sensor, would it have taken a week to identify & correct it? I know nothing of this industry or regulations. It would seem even if a sensor went bad by ramping-up over a week's time, it would have a digital type immediate drop upon being fixed. So that does look like an analog event to my untrained eye.

There seems to be a lot to be concerned with this reactor & decommissioning operation (again, to a non-industry insider):

- It's the same reactor type as Chernobyl (graphite & no containment vessel). I suspect this matters little now that it's shutdown & offline.
- A decision was made to do the decommissioning by the operator in-house, rather than bring-in outside expertise.
- They ran out of budget!

I do have a question though: "If the decom area is surrounded by a berm, and the source is gamma, wouldn't this mean the only individuals endangered would be those actively working inside the site?

Wasn't it gamma radiation that created the Hulk? Let me know when they start seeing large, green, angry humanoids...

Chomsky said:

Excellent & informative post Beaudreaux, and definitely deserved of some likes & responses IMO.

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Thank you. It has surprised me that no one has responded until now.

Chomsky said:

So after reviewing your links, here's my random thoughts:

In the possibility it was a sensor, would it have taken a week to identify & correct it?

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Highly unlikely, but given that I can't find anything about this AT ALL in the media, a bad reading is all I'm left with.

Chomsky said:

I know nothing of this industry or regulations. It would seem even if a sensor went bad by ramping-up over a week's time, it would have a digital type immediate drop upon being fixed. So that does look like an analog event to my untrained eye.

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It appears to me to be a real event, but for some reason is not being reported - total blackout for some reason.

Chomsky said:

There seems to be a lot to be concerned with this reactor & decommissioning operation (again, to a non-industry insider):

- It's the same reactor type as Chernobyl (graphite & no containment vessel). I suspect this matters little now that it's shutdown & offline.
- A decision was made to do the decommissioning by the operator in-house, rather than bring-in outside expertise.
- They ran out of budget!

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This reactor was and still is an accident waiting to happen. It absolutely frightens me that these type reactors are still around and are a real and present danger.

Chomsky said:

I do have a question though: "If the decom area is surrounded by a berm, and the source is gamma, wouldn't this mean the only individuals endangered would be those actively working inside the site?

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Great question. My feeling is that any berm (if they even built one, would be surrounding the entire area and not just the reactor - that's how they did it at Chernobyl and is why the exclusion zone is so VAST there - thousands could be at risk. At this time, there's no way for me to determine 1) whether this is a real event or not, or 2) if it is real to what extent the leak has breached containment, or 3) how many people are affected, or 4) is there any collateral contamination to wildlife or farm life that could effect the human population, or 5) why there's nothing in the media even for no other reason than to report a mistaken reading, or 6) if there is a Gamma source actually still at the site that could have been exposed, or 7) if there is a source at the site what is being done to control and prevent a potential meltdown from errant reactions, and lastly 8) why hasn't the government at the very least made some sort of announcement. This stinks of a government that doesn't know what to do or what to say so they do and say nothing.

Just wondering, were you able to get to the pop-up window that shows the readings spiking up?

It wouldn't surprise me at all if something like this happened and they tried to cover it up, not inform people..

I chat with a guy that is a nuclear power plant maintenance guy and he tells me that fukushima is a lot worse than the media lets on and was still uncontained last I talked to him.

Orly? said:

It wouldn't surprise me at all if something like this happened and they tried to cover it up, not inform people..

I chat with a guy that is a nuclear power plant maintenance guy and he tells me that fukushima is a lot worse than the media lets on and was still uncontained last I talked to him.

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You're correct about the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant , it's not contained yet.

I just checked the monitoring site readings again, and as of the time of this post the Gamma Radiation had dropped to 89,323 nSv - over a 100k drop since I started this thread, and still no reports on the media.

Beaudreaux said:

Thank you. It has surprised me that no one has responded until now.

Highly unlikely, but given that I can't find anything about this AT ALL in the media, a bad reading is all I'm left with. It appears to me to be a real event, but for some reason is not being reported - total blackout for some reason.

This reactor was and still is an accident waiting to happen. It absolutely frightens me that these type reactors are still around and are a real and present danger.
Great question. My feeling is that any berm (if they even built one, would be surrounding the entire area and not just the reactor - that's how they did it at Chernobyl and is why the exclusion zone is so VAST there - thousands could be at risk. At this time, there's no way for me to determine 1) whether this is a real event or not, or 2) if it is real to what extent the leak has breached containment, or 3) how many people are affected, or 4) is there any collateral contamination to wildlife or farm life that could effect the human population, or 5) why there's nothing in the media even for no other reason than to report a mistaken reading, or 6) if there is a Gamma source actually still at the site that could have been exposed, or 7) if there is a source at the site what is being done to control and prevent a potential meltdown from errant reactions, and lastly 8) why hasn't the government at the very least made some sort of announcement. This stinks of a government that doesn't know what to do or what to say so they do and say nothing.

Just wondering, were you able to get to the pop-up window that shows the readings spiking up?

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Yes, the pop-up window comes-up fine using the Chrome browser, and your instructions to launching it were clear & succinct.

That was how I was able to characterize this as appearing to be an analog, rather than digital or binary event, with my suspecting the latter characteristic (binary) to be more likely in a defective sensor replacement scenario. But this is pure conjecture, and is dependent upon the type of electronics used and the procedure followed; it may be normal in this instance. (And yes, electronics & electrical engineering was my stock & trade for much of my life - but I do not know the technology and procedures used in these applications)

But earlier before my first post, I did find this decom team at this reactor had what appears to be an unreported accident and possible cover-up in OCT 2010. Here's a pretty decent in-depth article describing it:

Bellona: Lithuania’s shutdown nuclear power plant leaks 300 tonnes of radioactive sludge – could the accident repeat itself in Russia?

It's also interesting to note the article claims Russia is still operating three of the same Chernobyl type reactors, all in or near cities if I understand correctly, including "Leningrad" (St. Petersburg)! And they are over the design lifetime!

From the article:

"Lithuania indeed made the right choice to stop the old and dangerous reactors when it did – keeping in mind that Ignalina’s reactors are of the Soviet RBMK design. But reactors of the same design are still in operation at Russian nuclear power plants – Leningrad, Kursk, and Smolensk NPPs. The operational life spans of some of these reactors have been extended beyond the engineered limits, and extensions are projected for the rest."

Chomsky said:

Yes, the pop-up window comes-up fine using the Chrome browser, and your instructions to launching it were clear & succinct.

That was how I was able to characterize this as appearing to be an analog, rather than digital or binary event, with my suspecting the latter characteristic (binary) to be more likely in a defective sensor replacement scenario. But this is pure conjecture, and is dependent upon the type of electronics used and the procedure followed; it may be normal in this instance. (And yes, electronics & electrical engineering was my stock & trade for much of my life - but I do not know the technology and procedures used in these applications)

But earlier before my first post, I did find this decom team at this reactor had what appears to be an unreported accident and possible cover-up in OCT 2010. Here's a pretty decent in-depth article describing it:

Bellona: Lithuania’s shutdown nuclear power plant leaks 300 tonnes of radioactive sludge – could the accident repeat itself in Russia?

It's also interesting to note the article claims Russia is still operating three of the same Chernobyl type reactors, all in or near cities if I understand correctly, including "Leningrad" (St. Petersburg)! And they are over the design lifetime!

From the article:

"Lithuania indeed made the right choice to stop the old and dangerous reactors when it did – keeping in mind that Ignalina’s reactors are of the Soviet RBMK design. But reactors of the same design are still in operation at Russian nuclear power plants – Leningrad, Kursk, and Smolensk NPPs. The operational life spans of some of these reactors have been extended beyond the engineered limits, and extensions are projected for the rest."

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Thank you for the link to the story. I loved how they asked "Does 300 tonnes of leaked radioactive sludge constitute an accident?" I guarantee you that anyone directly exposed to the 2010 leak in the story you linked, is long dead.

Here's a link to Google Maps of the plant and you can see that they do have a berm, but it appears low and is broken by buildings instead of being built around the outside perimeter of the buildings. Gamma Radiation could potentially pass through openings in the berm and buildings: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ignalina+Nuclear+Power+Plant/@55.5916453,26.5438604,2960m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x46c2cf2541d4d84b:0x85b381eaff8341b9?hl=en