The key to discovering what happened last October when apparently three shipments of Po-210 – a highly dangerous alpha-emitter of radiation – is to look at the physical trail and how much contamination was at each location. Some areas were barely touched like The Arsenal Stadium at which Lugovoi and Kovtun watched the matche between CSKA Moscow and the UK’s Arsenal team. This game was attended right after the meeting these men had in the Millenium Hotel’s Pine Bar with an apparently nervous Litvinenko. Litvinenko would later fall deathly ill at home, but the Russians apparently had so little contamination on them that there was only small traces at the stadium.

But on the other end of the spectrum are those sites with heavy contamination. And we are now getting reports that identify the hottest spots of contamination, including the two hottest spots – which are the ones now the only places closed off to the public. As I tried to predict in this post the other day I thought those top spots would be the Millenium Hotel Room where the Russians stayed (and probably met with Litvinenko) and Litvinenko’s home. This is possibly not the case. Here are the details just out highlighting those sites with the highest contamination levels:

During the investigation into his death the Health Protection Agency sealed off 15 properties, including Litvineko’s Muswell Hill home, a sushi bar, offices belonging to Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky and the Millennium and Sheraton Park hotels in Mayfair, which were found to be radioactive.

Let’s see if we can get the 15 sites identified in detail. Here is the list
(1) Litvinenko’s home
(2) The Itsu Sushi Bar
(3) The Sheraton Park (multiple rooms)
(4) The Parkes Hotel at Knightsbridge (multiple rooms)
(5) The Best Western Shaftsbury
(6) The Millenium Hotel (bar and rooms)
(7) The Pescatori Restaurant
(8) Three Aircraft
(9) Offices of RISC Management
(10) Offices of Erinys
(11) Office of Boris Berezovsky

Now if we count the Pine Bar as a separate site and we count the three planes as separate sites then we come to 15 sites. However, I am not so sure the offices of Erinys or RISC Management were sealed off. But this is the best list I can come up with. The level of contamination is directly linked to how long these sites took to clean up and return to public use. The planes took very little time and there is little evidence of serious contamination with passengers. Same with the offices of RISC Management and Erinys.

But clearly the top two sites being reported today is not the Pine Bar (which I do believe is still closed) or the hotel rooms on the fourth floor at the Millenium Hotel where the infamous ‘spill’ took place. It is an office near Boris Berezovsky’s office and Litvinenko’s home:

But while 13 have been cleared Litvinenko’s home and a room in a Mayfair office are stil contaminated.

This is sort of surprising, and I am not sure the reporting here is correct. The Pine Bar and Millenium Hotel rooms I believe are also still off limits. So are there two sites or three? Either way Litvinenko’s home is much more contaminated than one would predict from a dose of only 10 micrograms of Po-210. Po-210 is deadly, so small quantities can kill. But small quantities can also be cleaned up easily. The material does not harm outside the body since the radiation cannot penentrate skin. In fact the HPA has said living wiht a contaminated person does not put anyone at undo risk if everyone minds their personal hygiene habits. So there seems to be a lot more than a tiny fraction of a gram of Po-210 at Litvinenko’s home, as well as these mysterious offices. As time proceeds the trail and events become more clear. Only high doses will leave a dangerous residue now nealry two half-life’s distant from the events of October.

Addendum: Always helps to read to the end of the article:

A Westminster Council statement said remediation work was due to be completed at two of the sites initially investigated within a matter of days – the Millennium Hotel and the Sheraton Park Lane Hotel where some rooms were closed.

…

ut work has still not started at 58 Grosvenor Street, Westminster, and the council has put a prohibition order under on the owners to seal the affected room while they negotiate the costs of work.

This case still has a lot of twists and turns left in it. Who owns those offices at 58 Grosvenor Square? And I thought it was reported Berezovsky owned Litvinenko’s home and allowed him to live it in?