No radiation threat in Russian Far East - Onishchenko
MOSCOW. March 14 (Interfax) - The NPP accidents in Japan did not raise the radiation level in the Russian Far East, Chief Public Health Official Gennady Onishchenko told a Monday press conference in Moscow.
"There is no threat of an increased radiation level," he said.
The radiation level was normal in the Russian Far East on Monday morning, Onishchenko noted.
"If no new quakes happen, we will not review our optimistic forecast," he said.
Russian specialists will evaluate the possible consequences of the Japan nuclear accidents for China, as Chinese food is supplied to the Russian Far East, he said.
In his opinion, residents of the Russian Far East should not buy protective clothes or radiation sensors.
"You don't have to buy anything. We provide balanced and objective information," he said.
The discharges from Japanese nuclear power plants are not dangerous for Russia so far, he said.
The St. Petersburg Radiation Hygiene Institute, whose employees worked in the Chernobyl NPP disaster zone, confirmed the absence of an immediate threat to residents of the Russian Far East, Onishchenko said.
"We will evaluate longer consequences, as well, such as the possible influence of this accident on China. We will do that for one simple reason, because the consumer basket in the Far East, primarily in the Primorye territory and Amur and Khabarovsk regions, depends a lot on the quality of food provided by China," he said.
