News

K-159 radiation levels remain virtually unchanged

Publish date: September 16, 2003

No rise in radioactivity off Norway's northern coast has not been registered.

According to the latest independent radiation samples commissioned by the Bellona foundation in the area of K-159 submarine. The samples, which were taken by Norway Seafoods September 1st, two days after the K-159 sank, indicate a radiation level of 0.22 Becquerels per kilogram of pollock caught. The catch was taken from some 90 kilometres north-west of the wreck. Experts say these radiation levels are normal. But since the prevailing currents in the area run west to east, they do not exclude that higher levels may have run to the east of the sunken vessel, and out of reach of Norway Seafoods’ ability to obtain accurate measurements. The day the K-159 went down, Bellona radiation measurements, also obtained from Norway Seafoods, indicated a radiation level of 0.23 Bequerels per kilogram of cod. The Norwegian Radiation Safety Administration, which also took samples in approximately the same area that Bellona did, said last week that it found levels from 0.15 to 0.1 Bequerels per kilogram of fish during the days following the sinking.