---
title: "Researchers: Findings Suggest Something Is Leaking Radiation in Europe"
description: "Radiation sensors recently identified a harmless-but-significant leak, likely from a nuclear power plant, in east Europe."
date: "2020-06-29"
modified: "2020-06-29"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/leaking-radiation-europe"
categories:
  - "Energy"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "Nuclear Energy"
  - "radioactivity"
  - "the digest"
---

# Researchers: Findings Suggest Something Is Leaking Radiation in Europe

![Radiation sensors recently identified a harmless-but-significant leak, likely from a nuclear power plant, in east Europe.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/leaking-radiation-europe.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Call A Plumber

Radiation sensors in Stockholm recently identified what seems to be a [leak of radioactive isotopes](<https://futurism.com/russia-finally-admitted-radiation-cloud-over-europe-real.md>) coming from somewhere near the Baltic Sea.

While the level of radiation isn't dangerous to humans, *[Reuters ](<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nuclear-particles-baltic/sensors-detect-rise-in-nuclear-particles-on-baltic-sea-global-body-says-idUSKBN23X2TN>)*[reports](<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nuclear-particles-baltic/sensors-detect-rise-in-nuclear-particles-on-baltic-sea-global-body-says-idUSKBN23X2TN>), it is well above expected levels. It suggests, [according to a map](<https://twitter.com/SinaZerbo/status/1276559857731153921>) tracing the leak's source, that a nuclear power plant seems to have sprung a leak somewhere near Finland or Russia.

https://twitter.com/SinaZerbo/status/1276559857731153921

## Test Ban

Sensors like the one that detected the leak were put in place to spot and deter nuclear weapons tests, *Reuters* reports. But that doesn't seem to be what caused the spike in radioactivity.

"These are certainly nuclear fission products, most likely from a civil source," a spokeswoman from The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), the organization that operates the radiation monitoring stations, told *Reuters*.

## Off The Clock

But aside from the vast swathe of land that CTBTO identified as a possible point of origin, *Reuters* reports that the organization doesn't plan to investigate the leak further.

"We are able to indicate the likely region of the source, but it’s outside the CTBTO’s mandate to identify the exact origin," the CTBTO spokeswoman told *Reuters*.

**READ MORE:** [Sensors detect rise in nuclear particles on Baltic Sea, global body says](<https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nuclear-particles-baltic/sensors-detect-rise-in-nuclear-particles-on-baltic-sea-global-body-says-idUSKBN23X2TN>) \[*Reuters*\]

**More on radiation leaks:** *[Did Russia Cover Up a Radiation Leak 100x Worse Than Fukushima?](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/russia-radiation-leak-fukushima.md>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)

## More

- [Did Russia Cover Up a Radiation Leak 100x Worse Than Fukushima?](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/russia-radiation-leak-fukushima.md>)
- [Nuclear Plant Admits It Accidentally Leaked 400,000 Gallons of Radioactive Water](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nuclear-plant-leak-water.md>)
- [Truck Carrying Uranium Crashes in North Carolina, Prompting HAZMAT Response](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/truck-carrying-uranium-crashes-prompting-hazmat-response.md>)
- [An Underground Tank Is Leaking Massive Amounts of Radioactive Waste](<https://futurism.com/underground-tank-leaking-radioactive-waste.md>)
- [The Robots Used in Fukushima Clean Up Were Just Killed by Radiation](<https://futurism.com/robots-fukushima.md>)
- [Workers Find Radioactive Wasp Nest at Nuclear Facility, But the Wasps Are Missing](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/radioactive-wasp-nest-nuclear.md>)
- [Russia Finally Admitted the Radiation Cloud Over Europe Is Real](<https://futurism.com/russia-finally-admitted-radiation-cloud-over-europe-real.md>)
- [This Sunken Nuclear Sub Is Leaking Radiation Into the Ocean](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/sunken-nuclear-sub-leaking-radiation.md>)