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cancer, Chernobyl, clean water, climate change, dangers of nuclear, environment, France, Fukushima, Japan, KRYPTON 85, La Hague, North Korean, nuclear, nuclear accident, nuclear energy, nuclear fuel chain, nuclear industry, nuclear reactors, nuclear war, nuclear waste, nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons tests, radioactive discharges, radioactive discharges nuclear fuel chain, radioactive krypton, radioactive leaks, radioactive xenon, Sellafield, water, xenon
M5.3 Explosion – 19km ENE of Sungjibaegam, North Korea 2016-09-09 00:30:01 UTC 41.298°N 129.015°E 0.0 km depth
CTBTO discussing detection of radiation from the 2013 N. Korea underground Nuclear Weapons Test:http://youtu.be/pnVFgr_hIic. They try to make sure it’s not from another nuclear release, too.
“N.Korea’s nuclear weapons imminent threat – S.Korea’s Park
Posted:Mon, 12 Sep 2016 04:45:25 -0400
SEOUL, Sept 12 (Reuters) – North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missiles pose an imminent threat, South Korea’s President Park Geun-hye said on Monday, as tensions rose on the Korean peninsula in the wake of North Korea’s nuclear test last week.” http://www.reuters.com/article/northkorea-nuclear-park-idUSS6N18V00L?feedType=RSS&feedName=industrialsSector
“South Korea says new UN resolution on North should close loopholes
Posted:Mon, 12 Sep 2016 03:52:09 -0400
SEOUL, Sept 12 (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council should adopt a new resolution on North Korea after its fifth nuclear test that closes loopholes left in the last resolution adopted in March, a South Korean foreign ministry official said on Monday.” http://www.reuters.com/article/northkorea-nuclear-southkorea-idUSS6N18V00K?feedType=RSS&feedName=industrialsSector
CTBTO Explains that radioactive Krypton and Xenon vent from underground nuclear weapons tests. How the CTBTO Monitors: http://youtu.be/HDyU6nsUJqA (Some underground nuclear weapons tests have vented more radiation than others).
“International Monitoring System (IMS) are already in place;… The system swiftly, reliably and precisely detected all four DPRK’s declared nuclear tests. After the DPRK announced nuclear test on 12 February 2013, the CTBTO was the only organization to detect radioactivity attributable to the event.” https://www.ctbto.org/press-centre/press-releases/2016/ctbto-executive-secretary-lassina-zerbo-on-the-unusual-seismic-event-detected-in-the-democratic-peoples-republic-of-korea/
( Initial Fukushima disaster tracking by CTBTO (March-April 2011): http://youtu.be/9b7PwKraaek It made it to North America and Russia within days. Within 2 weeks it could be found throughout the northern hemisphere. Within a little over a month it had reached the southern hemisphere. )
“Krypton-85 … radioactive noble gas (half-life = 10.76 years) that is produced by fission of uranium and plutonium. Sources have included nuclear-bomb testing, nuclear reactors, and the release of 85Kr during the reprocessing of fuel rods from nuclear reactors (Sittkus and Stockburger, 1976). Concentrations of 85Kr in the lower atmosphere show considerable spatial variability, primarily reflecting the locations of the major sources (Solomon et al, 1998). A strong gradient also exists between the northern and southern hemispheres where concentrations at the North Pole are approximately 30% higher than the South Pole due to convective mixing (Jacob et al., 1987; Zimmerman et al., 1989). / Although 85Kr has a half-life similar to that of 3H [tritium]. 85Kr has …. steadily increasing atmospheric input, whereas the 3H atmospheric input is a more complex function of season and latitude and has declined since cessation of atmospheric nuclear-bomb testing in the mid-1960s… Krypton-85 enters ground water by equilibration of the infiltration water with air in the unsaturated zone, assumed to have a 85Kr activity similar to that of the atmosphere. If the effects of hydrodynamic dispersion are small, the 85Kr specific activity of groundwater defines the time since the infiltration water was isolated from the atmosphere.” http://wwwrcamnl.wr.usgs.gov/isoig/period/kr_iig.html
“The chemical element krypton, whose principal source is the atmosphere, had a long-lived radioactive content, in the mid-1940s, of less than 5 dpm per liter of krypton. In the late 1940s, this content had risen to values in the range of 100 dpm per liter. It is now some hundred times higher than the late 1940 values. This radioactivity is the result of the dissolving of nuclear fuel for military and civilian purposes, and the release thereby of the fission product krypton-85 (half-life = 10.71 years, fission yield = 0.2%). The present largest emitter of krypton-85 is the French reprocessing plant at Cap-de-la-Hague” “The radioactivity of atmospheric krypton in 1949±1950” Anthony Turkevich et. al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 94, pp. 7807±7810, July 1997 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC33711/
A German research study, “Climate risks by radioactive krypton-85 from nuclear fission Atmospheric-electrical and air-chemical effects of ionizing radiation in the atmosphere“, 1994, by Kollert, R., et. al., found that radioactive krypton-85 increases air ionization and thus impacts the electrical system and water balance of the earth’s atmosphere. If the amount of krypton 85 in the earth’s atmosphere continues to increase, it will have unforeseeable impacts on the weather and climate. A krypton-specific greenhouse effect is possible, as is a breakdown of the earth’s atmospheric electric field (which may impact human and animal health). Chemical interactions may mean creation of aggressive oxidants, such as radioactive smog and acid rain. Read abstract in English and German here: https://miningawareness.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/climate-risks-from-nuclear-power-radioactive-krypton-85-atmospheric-electrical-and-air-chemical-effects-of-ionizing-radiation-in-the-atmosphere/
“Kr-85 is a radioactive fission product that is released from spent fuel rods as they are disassembled during routine nuclear reprocessing activities. As Kr-85 is a noble gas, it is technically difficult to separate and contain. As a result, it is typically released into the atmosphere through stacks at the reprocessing facility.” “INMM 56th Annual Meeting, July 12-16, 2015, Detecting clandestine plutonium separation activities with krypton-85” Michael Schoeppner et. al.
Click to access PU102-Schoeppner-Glaser-Walker-2015.pdf
“La Hague is contaminating the surrounding countryside in two ways: first of all, radioactive gases like krypton-85 are released into the atmosphere. Greenpeace found 93,000 Bq/m³ of krypton-85 in the air above La Hague. Normal values range between 1–2 Bq/m³. Secondly, an estimated 230 million liters of radioactive waste from reprocessing are dumped into the sea each year. After fallout from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests and the meltdown of Fukushima, radioactive discharge from the two nuclear reprocessing facilities of Sellafield and La Hague constitutes the biggest source of radioactive pollution of the world’s oceans, even surpassing the effects of the Chernobyl accident.” http://www.nuclear-risks.org/en/hibakusha-worldwide/la-hague.html
“Radionuclides that tend to form volatile species evolve into reprocessing facility off-gas systems and are more challenging to be efficiently controlled compared to radionuclides that remain with the solids or liquids during fuel reprocessing. Unless otherwise managed, these radionuclides would be released to the environment. It is nearly certain that for any future used nuclear fuel (UNF) reprocessing facilities to meet licensing requirements in the United States, efficient capture of some volatile radionuclides from the plant off-gas streams will be needed.“, 2013, Nick R. Soelberg et al., ORNL “Radioactive Iodine and Krypton Control for Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Facilities“: https://www.hindawi.com/journals/stni/2013/702496/
Krypton is emitted during nuclear reactor operations, nuclear accidents, and nuclear fuel reprocessing (it’s present in the spent fuel-nuclear waste): “Radionuclide Release Limits—In the context of this ANPR, the specific radionuclide release limits established under 40 CFR 190.10(b). These are the legally permissible maximum amounts of krypton-85, iodine-129, as well as plutonium-239 and other alpha emitters that can enter the environment from the processes of nuclear power operations in any given year, on an energy production basis… There have been active reprocessing facilities in 15 countries, including the U.S., although some of these facilities were more research-oriented as opposed to commercial reprocessing facilities. Of the current operating facilities, the most widely known are the facilities at Sellafield (United Kingdom) and La Hague (France), which constitute the first and second leading producers globally for krypton-85. Both facilities discharge krypton-85 directly to the environment.” https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2014/02/04/2014-02307/environmental-radiation-protection-standards-for-nuclear-power-operations
“Potential radioactive pollutants resulting from expanded energy programs” By Hong Lee, et. al. Environmental Monitoring and Support Laboratory (Las Vegas, Nev.). Monitoring Systems Research and Development Division, EPA-600/7-77-082 August 1977 See text pp. 75-88 re radioactive emissions throughout the nuclear fuel chain: http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi/9101EI5M.PDF?Dockey=9101EI5M.PDF
Mining Awareness + 
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