Two men who were looking for Easter eggs in their garden in the southwestern German town of Vaihingen an der Enz on Sunday found, instead of chocolate, a small white bottle with an inscription that launched a large-scale fire and police operation.
Not much later the fire brigade confirmed that the word ‘polonium-210’ is not handwritten on the label [was] scribbled”, but “neatly official” was labeled. The weight of the bottle (the 50 milliliter bottle weighed about 200 grams) also corresponded to the density of the deadly radioactive substance. Firefighters with expertise in radiation issues were called in from all over the region, including a specialist who works at a nuclear power plant. The vial was examined and secured in protective suits. According to protocol, the police cordoned off the surrounding area until the bottle was no longer in the area.
Soon those involved could breathe a sigh of relief. In an initial test, fire brigade researchers measured no radiation leakage, according to the German Ministry of the Environment of the state of Baden-Württemberg. Also, no elevated radiation levels were measured in the area, and the men who found the bottle were unharmed. A laboratory analysis must provide a definitive answer to whether the vial actually contained polonium-210. The ministry had not yet responded to questions by noon NRC. It is still not clear where the bottle came from.
One possible scenario is that time has already done its work: polonium has a half-life of 138 days. After just under four years, only 0.1 percent of the original radiation value remains.
When polonium-210 enters the human body – through breathing, through the mouth or through open wounds – it is extremely dangerous. In 2006, the highly radioactive isotope became world news when it emerged that Aleksander Litvinenko, a former Russian intelligence officer who had come into direct opposition to President Vladimir Putin, had been poisoned with it in a chic British hotel. On behalf of the Russian president, two secret agents are said to have put the substance in Litvinenko’s tea. He died three weeks later. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2021 that Russia should be held responsible for this attack.
In the aftermath of the assassination attempt it became clear how clearly polonium-210 leaves its mark. Eight out of twelve people who tested positive on exposure had been in the same hotel as Litvinenko. Traces were also found on a British Airways plane that had flown between Moscow and London. The two main suspects in the murder also tested positive, but Russia refused to extradite them.
