Planes tested for radiation as 12 other sites test positive

TRACES of radiation have been found at a dozen sites in Britain and five jets were being investigated for possible contamination as authorities widened their investigation into the poisoning of a former Russian spy, British Home Secretary John Reid said yesterday.

Meanwhile, one of the two Russians who met with Alexander Litvinenko on the day he fell mortally ill was on a British Airways aircraft being tested for radiation, according to one Russian newspaper.

A coroner formally opened an inquest into the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko, who died on November 23 after falling ill more than three weeks earlier. It was quickly adjourned so police could continue their investigation, but three pathologists were to participate in an autopsy today at the Royal London Hospital.

High doses of polonium-210 — a rare radioactive element usually made in specialised nuclear facilities — were found in Mr Litvinenko’s body after his death. Investigators are now checking places visited by the former KGB agent and others who had contact with him in the weeks before he fell ill on November 1.

Mr Reid told parliament that “around 24 venues” have been or are being monitored as part of the investigation, and experts confirmed traces of radioactive contamination at about 12 of these venues. He did not say whether the radioactivity found at the sites was polonium-210.

Mr Reid told lawmakers that officials believed the risk to public health to be low. He said 1,700 calls had been made to the National Health Service, and 69 people were referred to the Health Protection Agency. Of those, 18 who may have been exposed to polonium-210 have been referred to specialist clinics, but all urine tests so far have been negative, he said.

Mr Litvinenko also said before he died that the Russian contacts he met had travelled to London from Moscow, prompting the searches of planes.

Three British Airways planes — two at Heathrow Airport and one in Moscow — are being investigated, and Mr Reid said that a Boeing 737, leased by the Russian airline Transaero, was also “of interest”.

Besides that, “there is one other Russian plane that we know of that we think we may be interested in,” Mr Reid added, but did not elaborate.