Bonn Questions Soviets About Radiation

West Germany said today that it has asked Moscow about unusual increases in atmospheric radiation reported in several European countries. Experts said the readings might have been caused by a Soviet nuclear accident.

West Germany, Sweden, Switzerland and France today said they had measured radioactivity increases of varying amounts in March. They said the emissions were not high enough to cause damage or injuries.

West German experts said the increased emissions probably came from a nuclear power leak. But a Swedish official said the radiation was more likely the result of burning waste or the cleaning of a reactor in the Soviet Union.

In Moscow, Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Gerasimov told reporters that “no discharges of radioactive emissions have been registered on the territory of the Soviet Union.” He said any increase in radioactivity came from somewhere else.

The Soviets were criticized after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster because they initially failed to report the power plant accident, which killed 31 Soviets and sent radiation around the world.

Claudia Conrad of the West German Environment Ministry said the increased radioactivity measured in March “posed no danger” to people in West Germany.