Reports

Steve Wilson ‘’Litvinenko Polonium Poisoning Investigation’’ 12th July 23

Today one of our own members, Steve Wison, gave a very interesting presentation on the murder of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko and the part played by Sellafield in Emergency Radioactive Incidents nationally and in this case specifically.

Marie Curie identified both Radium and Polonium, naming the latter after Poland, her birth country. Steve explained why Polonium is such an issue as an alpha radiation source. Equipment to make Polonium is mostly found in Russia; it is a commercial product used in anti-static on plastic polymers and most of it is exported to America. It takes one month to make 1gm of Polonium and this is enough to potentially poison 100,000,000 people.

The scene was set for a fascinating and terrifying series of events. The key players in this were Alexander Litvinenko, the victim and Andrey Lugovy and Dmitri Kovtun, the suspects.

When Litvinenko was admitted to hospital under the name of Edwin Carter it was initially unclear why he was so ill. As his condition worsened, Litvinenko told the doctors his true identity, that he believed he had been poisoned and that he was “a murder victim who was still alive”. Eventually, blood and urine samples detected the presence of alpha particles and the diagnoses of poisoning by Polonium-210 was confirmed.

On 22nd November Litvinenko’s heart failed and he died the following day. The post mortem confirmed he had ingested polonium-210, a poisonous radioactive isotope. Following his funeral, Litvinenko was buried at Highgate Cemetery in North London.

Steve took us through the timeline and toxic trail of the poisoned former agent and how the poison was administered. The UK inquiry said Mr Lugovoy and Mr Kovtun, both former KBG officers, deliberately poisoned Mr Litvinenko by lacing his tea with the potent substance Polonium-210. Both men denied carrying out the murder and Russia refused to extradite them to face trial in the UK.