The weeks ahead may be most illuminating on this score. The debt ceiling suspension runs out on December 8, around the same time that the tax reform question will resolve one way or another. The debt ceiling means that the treasury can’t issue any more bonds, bills, or notes. That is, it can’t borrow any more money to pretend the government can keep running.
So, is anyone talking about radioactive cloud that is over Europe? People are thinking that it is from an accident in Russia. Its like all over Europe and people are talking about it:
The tiny nation of Denmark has just three stations for monitoring atmospheric radiation. Each week, scientists change out air filters in the detectors and take the used ones to a technical university near Copenhagen.
There, Sven Poul Nielsen and other researchers analyze the filters. They often snag small amounts of naturally occurring radioactivity, radon for example.
Then about a month ago, Nielsen was startled to find something far stranger: a radioactive isotope known as ruthenium-106.
Ruthenium-106 has a half-life of just one year, which means that it isn't naturally found on Earth. It is, however, created in the glowing cores of nuclear reactors — and usually only detected in the atmosphere when something goes terribly wrong.
The ruthenium was detected far beyond Denmark. It showed up all across Europe, from Cyprus to Spain. The levels seen in dozens of nations were far too low to pose a health risk. Within weeks, the thin cloud had vanished.
So far, no nation has announced a recent nuclear incident or accident involving ruthenium-106. But some Western scientists say they suspect the source might have been a Russian research institute near the city of Dimitrovgrad, west of the Ural Mountains. The reason for their suspicion comes down to atmospheric calculations and the type of work being done at the facility, known as the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors.
Penner wrote:So, is anyone talking about radioactive cloud that is over Europe? People are thinking that it is from an accident in Russia. Its like all over Europe and people are talking about it:
The tiny nation of Denmark has just three stations for monitoring atmospheric radiation. Each week, scientists change out air filters in the detectors and take the used ones to a technical university near Copenhagen.
There, Sven Poul Nielsen and other researchers analyze the filters. They often snag small amounts of naturally occurring radioactivity, radon for example.
Then about a month ago, Nielsen was startled to find something far stranger: a radioactive isotope known as ruthenium-106.
Ruthenium-106 has a half-life of just one year, which means that it isn't naturally found on Earth. It is, however, created in the glowing cores of nuclear reactors — and usually only detected in the atmosphere when something goes terribly wrong.
The ruthenium was detected far beyond Denmark. It showed up all across Europe, from Cyprus to Spain. The levels seen in dozens of nations were far too low to pose a health risk. Within weeks, the thin cloud had vanished.
So far, no nation has announced a recent nuclear incident or accident involving ruthenium-106. But some Western scientists say they suspect the source might have been a Russian research institute near the city of Dimitrovgrad, west of the Ural Mountains. The reason for their suspicion comes down to atmospheric calculations and the type of work being done at the facility, known as the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors.
Not harmful to human health or the environment according to the boffins...
Measurement from European stations showed relatively high levels of ruthenium-106 in the atmosphere of the majority of European countries at the beginning of October, with a steady decrease from 6 October onwards. The radioactive element has not been detected in France since 13 October.
Duncan Cox, leader of Public Health England’s radiation emergency response group, said: “Radiation monitors at our sites in Oxfordshire and Glasgow have been checked since September when this substance was reported by other European radiation monitoring institutes, and we have not detected any unusual sources of radiation.”
Monitoring stations in Germany, Austria, Italy and Switzerland all detected very low levels of ruthenium-106 from late September. Seven German stations recorded levels from a few microbecquerels to five millibecquerels per cubic metre of air, posing no hazard to health.
The French institute also said that the probability of importation into France of foodstuffs, notably mushrooms, contaminated by ruthenium-106 near the site of the accident is extremely low.
