Sunday, November 13, 2011

Trace Radiation Across Europe of Unknown Cause



Trace amounts of iodine-131, a type of radiation created during the operation of nuclear reactors or in the detonation of a nuclear weapon, were detected by the Czech Republic's State Office for Nuclear Safety starting two weeks ago. Austria also sounded the alarms on this.  Since then, ABC News in the US indicates that there are trace amounts of radiation "all over Europe" without information on its origin.   The likelihood is that such small amounts, such as these, are due to a breach in a rod containment system of a nuclear power generation plant.  Because other radioactive isotopes are not also detected, experts believe that this is not radioactivity from Fukushima Daiichi.
     According to "Simply Info", a blog of "The Fukushima Project", the IAEA (The International Atomic Energy Agency), took the weekend off, leaving everyone to speculate as from where this radiation is emanating. The IAEA also have absolutely nothing about it on their website.
     Interestingly, aerial flyovers are blocked for aerial photography for November 13th and 14th for the following areas:   Ukraine, Serbia, Hungary and Bulgaria 

 These are "Simply Info's" best guesses of potential trouble spots at this time:

Krsko nuclear power plant in Slovenia.


Zaporizhia NPP in Ukraine


The radiation was first detected in the Czech Republic. Austria also sounded alarms on this.



 But, we simply don't know.  Someone should  put some major effort into finding out before this becomes in excess of trace amounts.  Thank you "Simply Info" blog.  You provided the only information out there, while the IAEA took the weekend off.


UPDATE:  I think it's important to update posts periodically, and I am doing so, on December 16, 2011.  I have spent some time looking for follow up articles on this, only to find none. Since internet news articles are pulled periodically to make room for more, it can also make it difficult to locate the originals.  As quickly as a month later, very few traces of the original article still exist.   This is concerning because it is furthur an indication of sloppy and limited work seemingly worldwide with regard to journalism.
                 Thus far, no official body has reported a final cause for the unexpected trace radiation which impacted Europe mid-November 2011.   The hope is that it naturally dissipated, and is gone now.  It would have been nice for the public to have known its origins and been able to follow up as needed.



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