St. Petersburg, Russia based FSUE Emergency and Technical Centre of the Ministry for Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation (MinAtom of Russia) between June 15 -21 and July 7-9 2015 carried out the first phase of research work 2015 for sampling of water and sediments within the international program of HELCOM “Monitoring of Radioactive Substances in the Baltic Sea” (HELCOM MORS), the enterprise said in its news release
Scientists have carried out sampling in the area of responsibility of Russia in the Gulf of Finland at the points recommended by HELCOM Recommendation 26/3. Preliminary gamma-spectrometric analysis of the sea water and sediments showed results within acceptable limits. The results of the analysis has been sent to a single database of HELCOM.
The radiological monitoring of the environment and annual survey expeditions in the Baltic Sea is part of a long-term programme carried out by the State Corporation "Rosatom" to implement national obligations of Russia under the Helsinki Convention. The work is related to the control of radioactive pollution of the Baltic Sea and the monitoring of emissions and discharges of radiation-hazardous facilities.
Since 2000, the survey expeditions in the region are managed and organized by FSUE ETC St. Pb in conjunction with V. G. Khlopin Radium Institute.
In 2014, in the framework of technical assistance to support activities related to the implementation of environmental programs for the study of radioactivity of the Baltic Sea, V. G. Khlopin Radium Institute received a new KART system for obtaining cores samples provided by Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM), which was tested during the research vessel Nadezhda expedition.