WORLD: Underground Nuclear Tests in North Korea More Dangerous Than Main Stream Media Admits

Underground Nuclear Tests in North Korea More Dangerous Than Main Stream Media Admits

On May 25th, 2009 CNN ran a segment on their newscast that presented the most recent underground nuclear test by North Korea in which they stated that there are no dangers from any of the radioactive particles that are released into the atmosphere, namely Xenon 133. What they didn’t mention is that there are a myriad of other radioactive particles that are released with any nuclear blast. Those travel along with the Xe, wherever it may go. These particles have been known to cause cancer in anyone in its path, or at least increase the chances of someone contracting it.

In the video, at approximately the 3:11 mark, there is a simulation that illustrates how the 2006 North Korean test released Xenon 133 into the air. It follows it for a few weeks until it spreads all the way across the Pacific Ocean and passes over Canada and the whole of North America. At the 3:50 mark, it’s stated that radioactive Xenon is not harmful to anyone. They state that no “radioactive fallout” would occur, and that the particles will not make anyone ill. At 4:40 the reporter states, “No more than you are normally exposed to," referring to the amounts of radiation breathed in on a daily basis. Now, how can it NOT be any more than normal when it has been added to our atmosphere? Any added amount is "more," correct?

According to guardian.co.uk, North Korea states that this latest test was the size of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in WWII. For those who are unaware, this bomb was named Little Boy and was dropped by the B-29 Enola Gay on August 6th, 1945. According to The National Museum of the Air Force, Little Boy was:

...about 9,000 pounds and had an explosive force (yield) equal to about 20,000 tons of TNT.

This 20 Kiloton bomb was detonated in what is called an Atmospheric detonation, which means that it’s blown up above ground. In the case of the most recent North Korean test, it was performed underground at an undetermined depth and without any idea of the containment level of the blast. This makes one wonder just how much radiation could have leaked out and what effects it could have on the local populations as well as globally long-term.

To help shed some light on this problem, we should take a quick look at the USA’s own nuclear testing history. In 1957, the US began its underground nuclear tests in which they used 1.7 Kiloton charges. The following paragraph from nuclearweaponarchive.org should illustrate this quite succinctly:

Although underground testing was the rule after August 1963, it is not exactly true that no radioactivity was released into the atmosphere after that date. First, there were five Plowshare cratering tests conducted underground, but designed to breach the surface (see below). These released a total of 984 kilocuries of I-131 (radioiodine) into the atmosphere. Containment failures for a few dozen other tests that were supposed to be entirely underground released another 123 kilocuries (two-thirds of this was due to Baneberry, with Des Moines, and Bandicoot accounting for nearly all of the rest). For comparison, Trinity released about 3200 kilocuries of radioiodine. The total population exposure to radioiodine from all 'underground' tests amounted to 9.1 million person-rads of thyroid tissue exposure (about 2% of all exposure due to continental nuclear tests). This can be expected to eventually cause about 2800 cases of thyroid cancer, leading to some 140 deaths.

To put this into perspective, this is an underground test of 1.7 Kilotons whereas the most recent North Korean test was approximately 20 Kilotons. This means that, theoretically, upwards of 28,000 people could contract cancer and approximately 1,400 people could die. The truth is that we may never know exactly what impacts this will have on the local environment or the indigenous population. However, we can rest assured that it will have some impact on everyone in the area over time, whether by drinking the local water, by breathing the air that has been contaminated with radiation, or by eating the local food.

It would be remiss for anyone to overlook the fact that tests of this nature directly impact people no matter how isolated the test may appear to be. The long-term effects on the environment and the people in the area are too much to ignore. It would be in the media’s best interest to illustrate the facts as they really are rather than telling the people what they want to hear.

One point I've never seen addressed: every time you conduct below ground testing you are contaminating the aquifer. I wonder what the quality of the water is over there.

reply to post by secretagent woooman


That's exactly what I was wondering when I heard that report. I cannot understand how it is that they can claim that are no long-term affects to their testing, when they perform them from a mountainous region, which has water run-off into populated areas.

It truly boggles the mind.

TheBorg - ATSNews

reply to post by secretagent woooman


exactly what I was wondering, and how far the contamination could travel through ground rock in that area.

reply to post by TheBorg

I've always wondered this in perspective to how underground testing can contaminate other nation's supplies as well. If that contamination is affecting South Korea, Japan or China technically they have commited an act of nuclear warfare.

Just for your information! And not siding with NK that is for sure.

Water will not absorb Radiation . It will though carry the particulate matter in it that can be reactive. But that is filtered out in the ground water process .

Now how far the matter can spread in a local area I do not know and I do not have the information on that at hand and will have to do some research on that matter.

From what I have been able to ascertain on this matter, the area where the explosion takes place tends to seal it's self off by the fusing of the rock strata .
This as I read is one of the many reasons that they moved to underground testing.

I am not an expert on this matter, this is just what I have learned while looking up these matters so I would have some background on this.

The U.S. Geological Survey readings indicate a seismic body wave of magnitude of 4.7, which is larger as compared to the value of 4.1±0.1 in 2006. According a preliminary assessment by Martin Kalinowski of the University of Hamburg, this corresponds to an explosive yield of about 3 to 8 kilotons TNT equivalent with a most likely yield of 4 kt. In 2006. The yield of the 2006 test explosion was approximately 0.5 to 0.8 kt TNT equivalent.

www.armscontrolwonk.com...


4 Kt is a lot smaller than the Hiroshima Bomb at 15 to 20 Kt.


“We’ll have to wait for more analysis of the seismic data,” notes Hans Kristensen at the Federation of American Scientists, “but so far the early
news media reports about a ‘Hiroshima-size‘ nuclear explosion seem to be
overblown.”

www.fas.org...

The 10 to 20 Kt. estimate was done by the Russians...

The size of the explosion is still under debate and will require more analysis to determine. Initial estimates have ranged from a few kilotons to a Russian figure of between 10 kilotons and 20 kilotons.

www.google.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">http...://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ik_bzNZj-VkmysWeNHV1vS7R4MsQD98EI4F81









[edit on 21-6-2009 by Oatmeal]

I think it would rip your brain to know how many thousands of acres of US lands are contaminated and how many failed nuclear tombs there are buried in cement about the country.
I believe it would make a great continous thread actually....
So many places we have made bombs or dabbled with nuclear reactors now to be avoided because they are radioactive.Multiply this by the number of nuclear countries and many thousand of hectares of earths surface as well as beneath it are now dangerous to people.
The HALF life deadliness runs to billions of years for some of this stuff!
If we cannot realise that we are poisoning the environment for eons to come soon, well be growing horns and extra eyes

It's not why it's more dangerous...

Here is why :

North Korea nuclear test could have woken up the Baekdu volcano

“Baekdu could erupt anytime soon,” said Yoon who has monitored the mountain for changes. “A variety of indicators are backing this scenario. The thing we should try to predict is when. It's clear it's imminent.”

The geologist speculated that an eruption could take place in a couple of years.

According to historical records, major activity on Baekdu in the 940s created a caldera on its peak, whose circumference is nearly 14 kilometers with an average depth of 213 meters and a maximum of 384 meters. Volcanic ash from this eruption has been found as far away as the southern part of Hokkaido, Japan, according.

On Oct. 1, 2006, a Russian satellite found the surface temperature of the mountain notably higher than before. The finding came just days after North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test in its northern territory, which could have been a catalyst reactivating magma flows, according to analysts.

Now if they test another one, who knows what could happen... Last time this volcano erupted, the whole Korean peninsula was under ash.