Radiation levels down in Mayapuri: Greenpeace

Radiation levels have come down in the six hotspots of west Delhi's Mayapuri area but were still not normal, environmental NGO Greenpeace said Wednesday.

A team of Greenpeace surveyed Delhi's Mayapuri scrapyard in the morning and said radiation levels were much less than last week.

"As of now radiation levels are less but not normal. Bringing them to normal background levels involves detailed handling, checks and re-checks and we need to discuss the way forward," said a Greenpeace spokesperson.

The organisation had conducted a survey of the scrap market on May 14 to check gamma radiation and to verify government claims that the area was back to normal background levels.

Greenpeace identified six hotspots with considerably elevated radiation levels; of these, two spots had radiation 5,000 times more than the normal background level.

Following this, a team from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and the Narora Atomic Power Station has been decontaminating the area.

Police said the source of the radiation leak last month was a radioactive gamma cell containing Cobalt-60, auctioned as scrap by Delhi University's chemistry department two months ago.

One victim died while six people exposed to the radioactive Cobalt-60 are still undergoing anti-radiation treatment in a hospital.