Two Romanian cities have highest local levels of natural radiation, below warning limit

Zimnicea and Timisoara are the two Romanian cities with the highest level of natural radiation, of close to 5 Bq (Becquerel) per cubic meter, according to data from the National Commission for Nuclear Assets Control (CNCAN), cited by local Agerpres. However, the level registered in these two cities is well below the warning limit of 50 Bq per cubic meter or the alarm limit of 200 Bq per cubic meter. The next cities on the list are Turnu Severin, Craiova, Vaslui, and Calarasi, according to measurements made on May 22, at 8 AM. “We’re talking about radon, a radioactive gas that exists in the earth’s soil. It has always existed and is part of natural radiation, and the degree of danger is very low,” said Rodin Traicu, CNCAN president. According to a European directive that needs to be transposed into national legislation by April 2018, Romania should also create a map on the level of radiation inside buildings, dwellings and tunnels, over the next two years. However, according to Traicu, there were no cases, neither in Romania nor the European Union, where the level of radon was alarmingly high. Radon is a chemical element with symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colorless, odorless, tasteless, noble gas. It occurs naturally as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains through which thorium and uranium slowly decay into lead, according to Wikipedia. Bucharest among top three Romanian cities with poor air quality Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com