Radiation Gauges Goofed--Finland

Finnish authorities today blamed faulty instrumentation for high radiation levels recorded in a city near a nuclear plant 40 miles west of the Soviet border.

The relatively high readings for one hour Monday in Kotka, a port 60 miles east of Helsinki, had puzzled experts because no radioactive leaks were reported in the region.

“Our analyses show no new radioactivity . . . (therefore) the highest level we recorded was most likely caused by faulty instrumentation,” said Leif Blomqvist, an expert at the radiation safety institute in Helsinki.

The highest reading in Kotka was 1,800 microroentgen per hour, a measure of gamma radiation.

The readings, while not considered a harmful level, were more than 60 times higher than levels recorded following the recent April 26 nuclear reactor disaster in Chernobyl, which sent a radioactive cloud over Sweden and Finland.

“The other higher measures recorded, one and a half to two times the pre-Monday night levels in the Kotka area, could have been caused by a variation in background radiation resulting from meteorological disturbances,” Blomqvist said.

Winds Monday night came from Sweden, but normal levels were reported at the 12 Swedish nuclear power reactors. No leaks were detected at the Finnish nuclear power plant in Lovisa 20 miles west of Kotka.