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North Korea’s nuclear test might be cause of radiation detected at Takasaki, Japan

Radiation detected in Japan may be from North Korea nuclear test news.com.au April 24, 2013 POSSIBLE radioactive traces from a North Korean nuclear test in February have been detected for the first time, 1000km away in Japan.

The  Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) said it had detected isotopes “consistent with a nuclear fission event”, The Japan Times reports. “The ratio of the detected xenon isotopes (xenon-131m and xenon-133) is consistent with a nuclear fission event occurring more than 50 days before the detection,” the CTBTO said.

“This coincides very well” with the North Korea’s announced nuclear test on February 12.The detection at a monitoring station in Japan came 55 days after the explosion, The Japan Times reports.

The group said, however, that the discovery couldn’t help it answer the key question of whether Pyongyang used plutonium or uranium in the blast.

North Korea used plutonium in its 2006 and 2009 tests and any discovery that it used highly enriched uranium for its third test would mark a significant technological step for the impoverished and unpredictable regime…..

It is also possible that the so-called radionuclides were from a nuclear reactor or other atomic activity, and the CTBTO said it is currently examining the traces to see whether this is the case.

It ruled out however that the source was the crippled Fukushima No.1 nuclear plant.

The detection was made in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, 1000 km from the North Korean test site. Lower levels were also picked up at Ussuriysk, Russia, one of several hundred sites worldwide reporting to the CTBTO. http://www.news.com.au/world-news/radiation-detected-in-japan-may-be-from-north-korea-nuclear-test/story-fndir2ev-1226628391900

April 25, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | North Korea, weapons and war