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Article snippet: LONDON — Scientists across Europe have been puzzling about a phenomenon that seemed laden with mystery and menace in somewhat uneven proportions — a concentration of radioactive pollution caused by a nuclide called ruthenium 106. Official monitors in France and Germany concluded that, based on weather patterns, the contamination detected since late September had emanated from southern Russia or from Kazakhstan. “The most plausible zone of release lies between the Volga and the Urals,” the French Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety said on Nov. 9. Jean-Marc Peres, the institute’s director, told Reuters that the geographic area could indicate a spillage in Russia or in Kazakhstan. On Oct. 8, the German Federal Office for Radiation Protection said, “Russia must be assumed to be the region of origin of radioactive release” — a suggestion that was denied by Rosatom, the state company that runs Russia’s nuclear industry. According to a statement from Rosatom, “None of the enterprises of the Russian nuclear industry has recorded radiation levels that exceed the norm.” “One of the countries in the eastern part of the European Union” was more likely to be the source, Rosatom added, noting high radiation levels over Italy, Romania and Ukraine. Nonetheless, the presence of the little-known substance raised unease that a threat to European health might be building — hardly surprising in light of the West’s broad palette of other worries about Russia’s inten... Link to the full article to read more