There was finally some acknowledgement from Russia that there had been some sort of radioactive cloud emanating from the area near the Urals.
Russia's weather service acknowledged it had measured pollution of ruthenium-106 at 1,000 times normal levels in the Ural mountains. It said there was no health risk.
The announcement appeared to confirm a report by France's nuclear safety institute which detected a cloud of radioactive pollution over Europe.
The report by the Russian meteorological service, Roshydrome, is the first official data from the country supporting the French report of November 9.
Roshydrome said two stations in the southern Ural mountains found "extremely high pollution" of the radioactive isotope between September and October.
