Serbia’s Radiation Safety Agency Says Monitoring Middle East Conflict, No Increase in Radiation in Serbia

BETAPHOTO/Direktorat za radijacionu i nuklearnu sigurnost i bezbednost Srbije (SRBATOM)/RADIVOJ HADZIC/DS

The Directorate for Radiation and the Nuclear Safety and Security of Serbia (SRBATOM) is carefully monitoring the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran, given the involvement of states that run nuclear programs, and is in regular contact with representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), SRBATOM director, Sladjan Velinov, said.

In an op-ed published by the Politika newspaper on June 21, Veselinov wrote that no increase in gamma radiation had been recorded in Serbia since the beginning of the conflict in the Middle East, and that the values measured so far were within the range of natural radiation fluctuations and expected seasonal variations.

Veselinov added that any airstrike targeting facilities with stockpiles of highly enriched uranium or nuclear research reactors "significantly increases the risk of a radiological incident, with potential cross-border consequences."

"At this moment, there is no data indicating any radiological impact outside the affected locations... For Serbia and the region, there is currently no immediate threat in terms of radioactive contamination. However, the attacks are destabilizing the global energy market, which could have indirect economic consequences for the entire region," Veselinov cautioned.

The SRBATOM director said this before the U.S. attack on Iran.