BELGRADE -- Five employees of the Nuclear Facilities of Serbia (NOS) who were exposed to increased radiation were on an assignment "officially approved by no one".
This is according to Belgrade-based daily Politika.
The newspaper writes that "it is believed that there's both smoke and fire" when it comes to the April 19 incident at the Vinča Instititute, which operates as part of the NOS.
According to this article, the authorities only found out that the workers were exposed to radiation "six days after the fact, while the public learned about it another day later".
"Who decided cover up the unpleasant event, which we can refer to as an incident, the consequences of which could have been much more serious?," wonders the daily.
It further claims that after NOS Director Mirjana Radenković spoke on Saturday, "it was clear that the NOS management did not have a permit for any work to be done at the RA reactor that has been out of use for a long time."
The newspaper says that "nobody submitted such a request, either", and asks "why unauthorized action was taken".
It quotes a letter sent on April 25 to Interior Minister Ivica Dačić which "clearly shows that although not lethal, the daily dosage of radiation that the five had been exposed to was higher than the monthly or yearly levels".
Acting NOS Director Jagoš Raičević told B92 on Friday that the workers were exposed to radiation "of the order of magnitude present on an inter-continental flight, which was not dangerous".