Rutherford laboratory closed for cleanup

MANCHESTER, England, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Researchers at Manchester University in England were moved to other work spaces after mercury was found in the building where they worked, officials said.

Two rooms in the Rutherford Building that were used for research into radioactivity in 1908 have been sealed off, The Daily Mail reported Monday. The newspaper said the mercury was discovered under floorboards by a team investigating whether experiments by Nobel Prize winner Ernest Rutherford before World War I are linked to the deaths of three lecturers and a computer assistant.

The university said the rooms were closed to allow investigators to remove the floorboards.

"Measurements in one of the rooms have indicated the likely presence of mercury under the floor, but it is important to stress that these levels were well below the legal workplace exposure limits," a university representative said.

The newspaper noted that prolonged exposure to vapor from droplets of mercury can cause brain damage and kidney failure.