'Catastrophic radioactivity' found in Russian factory

The top prosecutor in the Russian republic of Chechnya said today that a criminal investigation has been opened into the improper storage of radioactive materials by a state-owned company in the capital, Grozny.

The investigation was prompted by tests that found radiation levels at the Grozny Chemical Factory had exceeded normal levels by tens of thousands of times, the prosecutor said, calling it a “catastrophic radioactivity situation”.