Radiation experts have removed equipment from a navy gun in Victory Park, a popular climbing object for children, after they discovered that it was highly radioactive.


Oleg Polsky, deputy director of the Radon organization which measures radioactive sites in Moscow, said that his staff had measured radiation levels of up to 22,000 micror?ntgen per hour near night-vision equipment inside a navy cannon last week.


While a one-hour exposure to 100 million micror?ntgen can be deadly, there is little hard evidence about the effects of medium-level radiation like that emitted by the cannon, according to Valery Cheluganov, a state official charged with measuring radiation nationwide.


He said that the radioactive equipment in Victory Park was "not very dangerous" but added that "to be close to it for a long time would be a bad idea.


"Of course, it needs to be removed. You can't leave it in the middle of the city," he said.


Polsky said that military night-vision equipment was always radioactive but he added that it posed no significant risk.


The piece of equipment was removed from the gun shortly after Radon reported its discovery to the city, he said.


Polsky added however that children who had clambered over the cannon could not get close to the radioactive equipment.


He also said that the radiation emitted by the nightvision equipment was barely noticeable at a distance of two meters.