Sahara Desert
A new research has detected isotopic digital impression of the Cold War nuclear tests in Sahara dusts that arrive in Western Europe.
A huge cloud of sahara dust that covered Europe in March 2022 contained Traces of radioactive precipitation Tests performed by the US and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Paris-Saclay in France.
O, published in the magazine Science Advancesconcluded that although the radioactive levels were very below dangerous thresholds -Less than two hundredths of security limits -the discovery enhances the persistent nature of nuclear contaminants in the environment.
Sahara dust storms often travel to Europe and have been recurring in Portugal in the last. One of the main sources of dust the region of Reggane, Algeria. This place was Stage of four nuclear tests French in the 1960s, which led investigators to investigate whether the radioactive remains of these explosions were present in the cloud of dust.
After the outbreak of March 2022, a citizen science campaign collected 110 samples In six European countries (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain). Scientists analyzed the patterns of wind, the chemical and mineral composition of dust and their radioactivity.
Although the dust was partially originating from southern Algeria, its radioactive signature did not correspond to the French nuclear essays. Instead, it had the isotopic digital impression distinct from the nuclear explosions of the Cold Warmade by the US and the USSR, writes the.
“The isotopic signatures of the plutonium, a unique fingerprint of nuclear bombs, kept in the range of global signatures of radioactive rainfall widely dominated by US nuclear tests and former URSR, significantly different from the signature of French radioactive precipitation,” wrote, “wrote the investigators.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the US and the USSR made Hundreds of nuclear tests In deserts, islands, oceans, and remote wild zones, producing the greatest detonations in history. The radioactive material released by these explosions has been dispersed since all over the world, settling in various environments, from Sahara to the deepest ocean trenches.
Although the study confirms that current radiation levels of this dust do not represent any risk to public health, researchers underline the importance of a continuous monitoring to evaluate the long term environmental impact. The main threat to health caused by Sahara dust remains thin particles, which can affect air quality.
