Radiation is a natural part of our environment, and its major source is the radioactive Radon. This natural radiation in our environment is at safe levels in most parts of the world, but human activity has raised the radioactive levels by quite an amount. At the beginning of this year, levels of radioactive Iodine-131 in Europe spiked due to unknown reasons. Just about a week ago, many traces-measuring stations in Europe detected rising levels of radiation in many countries of the Europe.
The radioactive element found this time is Ruthenium-106 that is commonly used to treat eye cancers and tumors of a size smaller than 7 millimeters. The same is used to power some satellites as well. The levels of the radioactive isotope were found to be elevated in Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, and France only between September 29 and October 3. According to the Federal Office for Radiation Protection, the quantity of radioactive particles raised from the usual limits, but it was still under the safe levels.
The values of Ruthenium-106 were measured below 5-microbequelel per cubic meter in Germany which is higher than the normal. Still, it poses no danger to public health. The source of the radiation is still unknown, but its origin is found to be Eastern Europe. According to a spokesperson from the office, the accurate location is not known but Ural, a federal district of Russia, is an estimated location.
One might consider the fact that a nuclear plant failure have caused the spike in radioactive levels. Since ruthenium-106 is the only element present, this consideration is not valid. A nuclear plant failure would leak out a variety of radioactive substances other than the only one that was detected.
Some rumors even said that Russia is secretly testing a low-nuclear weapon in the Arctic that is causing the nuclear fallout, but the reality is different. According to experts, a nuclear test would leave elevated levels of many types of radioactive materials. Since ruthenium-106 and iodine-131 are two of the most common ones used for medical purposes, their increasing levels could be due to the drug company manufacturing pharmaceuticals.
