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ABC calls radiation plume over Europe “massive, but harmless” — IAEA now claims Hungary lab likely source of iodine-131 — “Extremely unlikely” says director

Published: November 17th, 2011 at 8:38 pm ET
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Nov. 17 — International Atomic Energy Agency said today they “believe they have traced the source of a massive, but harmless, radiation plume that has spread across the atmosphere in Europe to an institute in Hungary, but the head of the institute disagrees,” according the ABC News.

Jozsef Kornyei, director of the Budapest-based Institute of Isotopes Co. spoke with the AP in a phone interview: “Citing weather factors and the very low radioactivity of the iodine-131 released into the atmosphere, Kornyei said it was “extremely unlikely” that the leak at the Budapest plant was the cause of trace levels of iodine-131 measured in several European countries.”

The Budapest lab “denies being the source of any elevated radiation,” according to AFP. Lab director Mihaly Lakatos said, “Radiation levels in Hungary were only a little higher in Budapest than elsewhere… If the source of heightened radioactivity had been Budapest, the levels measured here should have been much higher.”

“Maybe partly we have something to do with iodine-131 over Budapest, but not over Europe… The distance is too long,” Lakatos said. (ABC)

“In response to Lakatos’ objections, the IAEA referred ABC News to the HAEA, who made the claim initially. Representatives there did not immediately responded to requests for comment.” (ABC)

Published: November 17th, 2011 at 8:38 pm ET
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43 comments

Related Posts

  1. Hungary lab emitted iodine-131 — But lab director says “It cannot be the same as what was found covering Europe” November 17, 2011
  2. Elevated radiation also in Germany, Sweden, Slovakia — UK expert claims iodine very unlikely from Fukushima since it was “so many months ago” November 11, 2011
  3. Major Website: Mystery cloud of dangerous iodine-131 over Europe is absolutely cause for concern — Certainly deserves more than 129 words by IAEA November 16, 2011
  4. Iodine-131 now detected in Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary… other countries — An indicator of nuclear chain reaction — 10 days after criticality talk at Fukushima November 11, 2011
  5. AP: Anonymous IAEA official says iodine-131 release appears to be continuing across Europe November 12, 2011
November 17th, 2011 | Category: Europe
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43 comments to ABC calls radiation plume over Europe “massive, but harmless” — IAEA now claims Hungary lab likely source of iodine-131 — “Extremely unlikely” says director

  • risabee risabee
    November 17, 2011 at 9:04 pm

    I will be glad to be mistaken, but wasn’t the earliest reading in Ukraine — perhaps downwind from the aging refrigerated concrete beneath Chernobyl’s corium?


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  • nonuke nonuke
    November 17, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    Has anyone seen the movie THRIVE ? Great movement and great ideas to get rid of these planet destroyers .. you can google it or I think watch it on youtube.


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  • Grampybone Grampybone
    November 17, 2011 at 9:27 pm

    Radiation is as harmless as quitting smoking with Chantix. These morons keep saying the levels of radiation are “safe”. Such stupid people should not be reporting that radiation was found without telling us all the side effects. These news casts should be more like Seroquel XR and Abilify ads.


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  • WindorSolarPlease
    November 17, 2011 at 9:54 pm

    Radiation plume “massive, but harmless”..

    It’s ok…it’s just massive..and it’s radioactive. (sarc)

    I know radiation lowers the IQ. Do they think, all of our brains cells have died off?


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    • lam335 lam335
      November 17, 2011 at 11:39 pm

      They say it’s safe because the levels are supposedly low. What they don’t point out is that this stuff has apparently been hovering over Europe since mid-October, and radiation exposure is cumulative. So a little bit, day in and day out for a month (at least) is going to add up.


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    • xdrfox
      November 18, 2011 at 11:24 am

      Among the approximately 3,000 in utero exposed atomic-bomb survivors, the following results have been observed: a reduction in IQ as radiation dose increases, a higher incidence of mental retardation among the heavily exposed, and some impairment in the rate of growth and development on average (not all exposed individuals demonstrated these effects). Many of these effects seem to be particularly pronounced among persons who had been exposed between the 8th and 15th weeks of gestation. Death rates and cancer incidence are being monitored in this group. The numbers of deaths or cancers are still too small to draw any firm conclusions, but the data to date suggest a trend of increasing risk as radiation exposure increases, similar in extent to the trend observed among those exposed to atomic-bomb radiation as children.
      http://www.oasisllc.com/abgx/effects.htm


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      • StPaulScout StPaulScout
        November 23, 2011 at 11:16 am

        ” a reduction in IQ as radiation dose increases, a higher incidence of mental retardation among the heavily exposed, and some impairment in the rate of growth and development on average”

        So it turns people into Republicans then?


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  • Bobby1
    November 17, 2011 at 10:09 pm

    “Lab director Mihaly Lakatos said, “Radiation levels in Hungary were only a little higher in Budapest than elsewhere… If the source of heightened radioactivity had been Budapest, the levels measured here should have been much higher.”

    Well, somebody has seen the iodine levels, at least. Mr. Lakatos, care to share how many becquerels are in each city, and what days? Since they’re pinning this on your lab, you might want to share this with us.


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  • Anthony Anthony
    November 17, 2011 at 11:14 pm

    ANALYSIS: European radiation safety agencies detect traces of iodine-131 in air, source of leak unknown
    Part of: Nuclear accidents and incidents

    Радиация незаметна
    Radiation safety agencies in the Czech Republic, Austria, Sweden, and other European countries report traces of iodine-131 in the atmosphere – an indication of either a radiation leak or a severe accident at a nuclear facility. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) asserts no risk to population health, but the lack of reliable data on specific concentrations or locations where the radionuclide was detected suggests safety might be a concern. Andrei Ozharovsky, 17/11-2011 – Translated by Maria Kaminskaya

    http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2011/iodine_analysis


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  • steve from virginia
    November 17, 2011 at 11:27 pm

    The IAEA doesn’t want to believe that the I-131 comes from Fukushima plants b/c it is inconvenient. IAEA pimps for nuclear industry just like NRC.

    Ongoing criticality @ Fukushima reactors. The has been admitted by Tepco administrators. Short-lived isotopes have been recently detected in containments. Explosive concentrations of Hydrogen also detected in containments: hydrogen by dissociation, enough to require nitrogen purge is high energy process. Also requiring energy is flooding containments with heavier Xenon- and Krypton- gases. There is enough energy to propel Iodine to upper atmosphere.

    Policy of Tepco and Japgov is denial; Tepco prays reactors will cool down by themselves, Japgov prays not too many people die of radiation poisoning during the interval. Between prays is lies and more lies. Iodine report is just another lie from nuclear establishment. It’s all from Fukushima, just be patient and Tepco will ultimately admit it.


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    • Anthony Anthony
      November 17, 2011 at 11:35 pm

      If Europe’s alarms are blaring you can be sure if it IS Fukushima, our leaders certainly understand the North American Freakout would seriously be underway.

      I have to agree, if it is Fukushima, and given the media ride we’ve seen so far, they would lie to avoid pandemonium.

      Personally, I am just unimpressed the industry is flailing so bad being accountable in a most basic way, in being able to account with professional authority where stray radiation is sourced.

      Should have been under control the first 24.

      So Europe Nuclear/World Nuclear is so incompetent or they are lying. Take your pick I guess.

      I just wish they were never in my life to start with.


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  • pure water
    November 18, 2011 at 6:26 am

    This situation is worth to memorize! Remember the affirmation that it can not be from Fukushima? – It means, just for me, that they know it COULD be from there! And their words are a wrong move, but I am not going to explain them why. Their wrong moves enable us to find the truth, as much, as possible. This laboratory may save their reputation for now. But question remain:
    -Why this contamination is detected in so many countries?
    -How much the detection levels differ with distance? If a disitant sourse emits something, the quantities will not differ much from place to place far away from it-in tis case – Europe.
    - Why did not they look at the monitoring data?
    - Is the data from Slovenia true or false?
    Yesterday I was searching on the Portblog`s hypothesis. And remembered that there is this big Collider in Switzerland, which may emeit something, if things go wrong. And someone from ENENEWS was curious why Switzerland is still silent.CERN were dealing with protons till now, and protons are the main component of cosmic rays – 90%. So Portblog`s idea may work in at least 2 ways. The collider changes the experiment mode, so if the problem was caused by them, iodine will disappear, but if the other hypothesis is viable, the levels will be constant. And if it is directly from Fukushima, the levels will depend on the status of the palnt.
    This does not mean that there are not other possibilities.


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  • harengus_acidophilus harengus_acidophilus
    November 18, 2011 at 8:33 am

    Strange. In March, just a few days after the “fuku-incident” i’ve had used an intersctive chart of nuklides to answer myself a lot of questions. At that time, it was easy to find various of them. But yesterday, i’ve had found none of them. Are i’m just stupid, or ist this a sign for some kind of information warfare?

    h.


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  • hbjon hbjon
    November 18, 2011 at 9:08 am

    How many distractions from Fukushima have there been? You had the New Mexico fire. There was the flooded river in Nebraska. We can’t forget the earthquake in Virginia? or MD? Anyway, France had an event at a nuke waste facility. Idaho is experiencing plutonium emergencies. North Carolina had a damaged fuel rod in an experimental reactor. Minnesota has automatic shutdowns on a regular basis that nobody talks about. To put things in perspective. Compared to what happened in Japan, the other situation don’t really matter in the scheme of things. IMHO, this hype is being driven by the banksters!


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  • blah
    November 18, 2011 at 11:48 am

    May be it’s that people get more interested in knowing what happens.
    And also that the atomic industry is under the spotlights as its intrinsic lack of safety unravels to the eyes of the public.

    About the 131-I pollution over Europe, I tend to agree with the hugarian lab director. I would be surprised if they were the source.
    We can calculate the amount of iodine involved in the release.
    Taking for granted the values of the lab, 324GBq and the specific activity of 131-I, 4.6E15 Bq/g, we are talking of 70µg (seventy microgram) of radioactive iodine.
    How could such a minute amount spread and still being detected all over Europe ?


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  • many moons
    November 18, 2011 at 12:53 pm

    How is it harmless if all radiation is harmful?


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  • Bobby1
    November 18, 2011 at 1:20 pm

    Finally some numbers, courtesy of tsutsuji at the physics forums:

    http://www.fanc.fgov.be/GED/00000000/2900/2963.pdf

    “To date (14 November 2011), Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, France, Hungary and Ukraine have measured and informed the IEC on the detection of very low levels of I-131 in air samples collected over intervals of several days.

    The range of results vary from a few microBq/m3 to levels of 27 microBq/m3 in Czech Republic,
    65 microBq/m3 in Eastern part of Austria,
    14 microBq/m3 in Eastern part of Germany,
    13 microBq/m3 in Poland,
    16 microBq/m3 in Slovakia,
    5 microBq/m3 in Sweden,
    87 microBq/m3 in Hungary
    and 7 microBq/m3 in Ukraine.”

    Hmm, they say no iodine in Slovenia.


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    • xdrfox
      November 18, 2011 at 1:38 pm

      Would enenewers think it would be in the area of the highest readings !


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    • Bobby1
      November 18, 2011 at 2:12 pm

      Here is a map of the average jet stream from November 1-14. Does this match the areas where the iodine was found?

      http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/tmp/composites/compday.71.179.98.238.321.11.9.57.gif


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      • BreadAndButter BreadAndButter
        November 18, 2011 at 2:15 pm

        Hi Bobby1, the current readings are surely from the Krsko plant in Slovenia. I just checked the EURDEP map today, we still see
        Iodine-131, Iodine-132, Caesium-134 and Cobalt-60 releases there and at the next station a couple of kilometers away.

        I’m pretty sure this has nothing to do with Fuku.


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      • Bobby1
        November 21, 2011 at 4:20 pm

        Most of the EURDEP sites have a spike around Oct. 25. That is too soon for the last big Fuku release to have gotten there.

        But there was a solar storm that hit Earth on Oct. 24-25. It seems likely that the spikes were due to spallation of radioactive materials in the air at that time. The other possibility is a NPP release, but it would have had to have gotten around through all of Europe the same day.

        Also most of the EURDEP sites have an increasing trend in radiation the last 7-10 days. This may be from the Fuku release.


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  • ExposeEvil OriginalSinRising
    November 21, 2011 at 3:17 am

    http://www.chemcases.com/nuclear/nc-10.html

    Excerpt –
    “Today many nations are considering an expanded role for nuclear power in their energy portfolios. This expansion is driven by concerns about global warming, growth in energy demand, and relative costs of alternative energy sources. In 2008, 435 nuclear reactors in 30 countries provided 16% of the world’s electricity. In January 2009, 43 reactors were under construction in 11 countries, with several hundred more projected to come on line globally by 2030.”

    435 Nuclear Power Plants Exist Today, With Plans To Make Hundreds More By 2030?!


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  • Grace Grace
    November 22, 2011 at 2:11 am

    Last night I read a post that made my head explode, now I can’t find it – someone here traced the Iodine 131 back to a plant in Eastern Europe, it may have begun with the letter B. Now where is the post? It was only like 3 comments in to the thread. Did anyone else read it?


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