Air Force monitoring increased Iodine-131 in Europe

The particular spectra of the specific isotope is traceable. If they are saying they don't know they are covering up.

One note:

The fufu disaster is ongoing, any fresh fission down in the cores would result in new releases of iodine(131). This could occur due to cracking of the melt under water or cavitation, like when pillow lava exudes under water off volcano islands.

I said could not did. Can't say because they aren't releasing data about the source. It is from fission , due to an accident, most likely.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
Chernobyl 2.0....
Let's hope not.

Probably not. If you mean for the original melt down there, that event is technically over. Unless the lid of the sarcophagus collapsed and even then it still won't release iodine which heralds a fresh accident. All the fuel in Chernobyl is below ground in the basement, hard as a rock, no longer molten, but still radioactive hotter than hell if approached.
If the lid of the sarcophagus did collapse it could result in other trapped nuclides being released that also have a specific traceable isotope signature.

K-27 maybe? Or, K-159?

...or any of the nearly 18,000 other radioactive components dumped by Russia into the Arctic over the past 30 years?

link

K -159 and K-27 and more

DP

More on the Russian nuclear graveyard in the Kara Sea.

Link

Shouldn't we be getting readings of other by products aswell. Why only 113?

a reply to: Crumbles

It may be the most prevalent of what's being released.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Apparently norway has real time sensors the public can monitor. I didn't try the link as I'm sure it isn't in english. Still I'm curious, because with other byproducts you get a cause. They will show detonation, or just a leak.

a reply to: Crumbles

With the sensors Constant Phoenix has, they hopefully will be able to get a better idea where it's coming from. If it's a ship, land based reactor, or what.

a reply to: Phoenix

If it is iodine-131 with half life of 8 days, it must be from recent fission, i.e. an operating reactor, not one in cold storage.

Mishap from a reactor refueling? Either naval or stationary.

Update on ZeroHedge.

French Nuclear Watchdog Gives An Update On Mysterious Radioactive Iodine Blanketing Europe

Not sure if I buy that conclusion.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I 131 has short half life - only 8 days. After a few weeks would have totally dissipated

This means source of I 131 is "fresh" occurring only days or maybe week before . WC135 can determine if this is
one shot release of radiation from a reactor or like Chernobyl is an ongoing situation

WC135 can determine if other radio nuclides are present (Krypton 85 is one that comes to mind, half life 10 years)

I 131 is a gas (as is Krypton) - now if solid particles are found that would tell you something serious is afoot

a reply to: mbkennel

As I said depends on detection of other radio nuclide's

Article called it a medical mishap - I 131 is used in radio medicine, usually to treat thyroid conditions (Graves disease -
brother had this done to him)

I131 is created either by nuclear fission - present in fission by products

Medical I131 is created by neutron bombardment of Tellurium

If other radioactive elements found then is reactor accident. If only I131 then is incident at facility which produces/uses
I131

originally posted by: Lagomorphe
Thay are saying (in the few MSM outlets here in France (but NOT on the TV as I am sure that they think this will cause panic*)) that this pollution seems to have emanated from the East of Europe... Highest levels were detected in Warsaw in Poland.

Does anyone else find it suspicious that a little less than a year ago Belgium issued iodine pills in case of a nuclear accident?

phys.org...

a reply to: firerescue

Agree with analysis. Let's hope it's only I-131 and nothing else, as the alternatives are worse scenarios.

However, it seems unusual that a medical production mishap wouldn't be publicly announced if it were in Poland.

Nuclear stuff in Kaliningrad? There is a nuclear power plant under construction.

I live in the center of the UK and have watched our background radiation over 5 years since moving here....we went from 4 millisieverts to 15 in those years...most of thatchange occuring last year.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
The Air Force has quietly deployed a WC-135 Constant Phoenix aircraft to Europe after a small amount of Iodine-131 was detected in Norway, near the Kola Peninsula. It has since been detected in Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, and France. Iodine-131 has a half life of 8 days, so this points to a recent and ongoing release.

Constant Phoenix is designed to collect air samples, including radioactive particles, and analyze them. It was designed to monitor nuclear testing, by flying through clouds and collecting samples from accessible areas.

No one knows where the radiation is being released from. Iodine-131 is frequently used as a tracer chemical, as well as medical uses. It's also released in a nuclear detonation, but there is no evidence of one having occurred. Levels measured were low, but could be a sign of a nuclear accident.

thebarentsobserver.com...

theaviationist.com... -europe/

www.zerohedge.com...

Thanks for sharing, it's good to be informed on these matters.

originally posted by: mbkennel
a reply to: Phoenix

If it is iodine-131 with half life of 8 days, it must be from recent fission, i.e. an operating reactor, not one in cold storage.

Mishap from a reactor refueling? Either naval or stationary.

With all the shrugging and tap-dancing, I'm leaning towards someone having a military reactor accident or a whoopsie sort of thing like an accidental criticality. I'd give that about 30%, about 50% that it's a leak from an old catastrophe and the 20% remaining as 'other' like someone's commercial reactor is venting I131 and they didn't catch it somehow. Yet.

Also in the 20%, someone's decided to do uranium separation on the cheap, or set up a really substandard PUREX line to make plutonium out of old rods. Is there any semi-rogue nation in the area that might have decided it's time for a crash course in making a nuke?

originally posted by: grey580
Update on ZeroHedge.

French Nuclear Watchdog Gives An Update On Mysterious Radioactive Iodine Blanketing Europe

Not sure if I buy that conclusion.

Well, if you had that sort of leak during your medical production, all sorts of alarms would be going off.

Basically, you make medical I-131 by bombarding tellurium in a reactor that can make you a bunch of neutrons, then you take your radioactive batch of daughter elements and heat it to about 200C, where all the I-131 will boil off into a gas. Very little of the rest of it will vaporize. You pump out that gas, chill it to precipitate it into pretty purple crystals, do a couple of chemical purification steps, then repeat. It doesn't take long to leave all the trace tellurium and whatever other daughter products behind, leaving you with very pure I-131 crystals.

Now, if you're leaking I-131 from your tellurium container in your production reactor, it's going to be leaking tritium and other radioactive crap, because you've got a hole in your containment. A big one. Also one in the tellurium vessel. And you will have lost all the I-131 because it's going to be hot enough that the iodine is a gas under pressure. It would be damned tough to miss that.

After the container comes out and cools thermally to the 200C region, you would have hooked the gas connection to your pump-out system. And again, if you lost enough I-131 to leave a plume across Europe, you'd have lost more than one batch out the vent. And your plant alarms would be going off. It would also be damned tough to miss THAT. Also, you've got millipore or similar filters in the vents that should have caught all the leaked I-131 in your handling area.

Once you have your can of pretty purple crystals, you might possibly lose some again in the purification line. But again, you've got alarms at every step to detect leaks. And once it's made, it's either in a crystalline form that might sublimate a bit but in general is a pretty rock, or it's dissolved in a carrier. And in neither state is it really apt to just head down Europe. And again, it's not the sort of thing you'd miss in your production area.

I'm not sure I buy it. In fact, it's so unlikely as to be bull#. But you never know, I suppose.

a reply to: Bedlam

Do nuclear power plants have sensors to detect this stuff if leaked ? And if so, are those alarms going off around Europe if the contamination is high enough ?