Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe in January 2017
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Re: Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe in January 2017
#2Can someone describe the significance/insignificance/context of this?
Re: Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe in January 2017
#3Can this be related to explosion in French nuclear power plant a week or so ago?
Re: Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe in January 2017
#4Poland has the highest reading - something going awry at Chernobyl or somebody testing low yield nukes?
I am also really disappointed this wasn't anywhere in the news, at least people could have taken some iodine. I understand the level is low but there is still non-zero probability of somebody going ill from it.
Re: Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe in January 2017
#5The releases of January 2017 are 10,000 times lower than those observed (in France) following the Fukushima incident[0]
CRIIRAD[1] believes that the meteorological conditions (and air pollution actually in Europe) and (legal) authorizations of iodine-131 releases by the industry are the cause of this event which could have passed unnoticed[0]
It is an unimportant event.
[0] http://www.criirad.org/balises/CRIIRAD_170214%20_I131_Europe...
Re: Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe in January 2017
#6Poland has the highest reading - something going awry at Chernobyl or somebody testing low yield nukes? I am also really disappointed this wasn't anywhere in the news, at least people could have taken some iodine. I understand the level is low but there is still non-zero probability of somebody going ill from it.
Poland has the highest reading
I wondered so as well, but the second-highest was from Spain, and I struggle to form a consistent picture from that.
Re: Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe in January 2017
#7Can someone describe the significance/insignificance/context of this?
The ISRN appears to be a French government agency. They are claiming to have detected non-natural levels of radioactive iodine across Europe.
The implication is that someone, somewhere had a nuclear accident and did not report it.
Re: Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe in January 2017
#8Can someone describe the significance/insignificance/context of this?
Iodine has a short half-life (8 days) which is the time for half of the material to decay. This means that somewhere in europe, recently, someone is creating / releasing radioactive iodine. However, the levels are extremely low, so it isn't dangerous.
Re: Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe in January 2017
#9Can someone describe the significance/insignificance/context of this?
I guess something happened in the eastern part of Europe, possibly Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Poland etc. The event was small, yet it was certainly nuclear due to a sudden increase of iodine, even if within range considered still healthy. Obviously nobody reported anything before it was picked up by detectors.
Re: Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe in January 2017
#10Poland has the highest reading - something going awry at Chernobyl or somebody testing low yield nukes? I am also really disappointed this wasn't anywhere in the news, at least people could have taken some iodine. I understand the level is low but there is still non-zero probability of somebody going ill from it.
Regarding Chernobyl, they've just put in place a new sarcophagus in late 2016 after years of work. One would rather expect the radiation to get lower (but I am not an expert). Interesting anyway.