Sniffer Plane Finds no Trace of Radioactivity over North Korea

It has been announced that the WC-135, flying from Kadena air base in Okinawa, Japan to sample air after North Korea's "nuclear" test, found no traces of radiation from their initial tests. Beijing also announced that their monitoring had found no traces of radiation either. Further samples and testing could however.



Now this initial finding has several possible meanings. First off they did conduct a nuclear blast but no radiation escaped., Second, that they conducted a nuclear test but it was a dud and the bomb itself failed to detonate. Third... no nuclear device was used at all and that the whole thing is a sham.
Now I am not a betting man, but if I were I would place my money on the sham hypothesis. Why? Because considering how poor North Korea is and how few resources they actually have to work with, testing a nuclear device would mean by necessity, destroying one of their precious few bombs. Better to pretend to and garner the worlds attention that way. Kind of like the John Mark Carr of rogue states.

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[edit on 13-10-2006 by UM_Gazz]

Perhaps KJI's ego demanded a nuclear test and his cronies wer unable to deliver yet too afraid to admit it. So, a plan was conceived: in complete secrecy, and over the years, they produced 500 tons of high explosive and planted it all below the test range....

well, the 4.? earthquake tells us that it did infact detonate.

My money is on that it was not nuclear, Krazy Kim just seeing what he can stir up.

I considered the fact that Kim might blow up a few thousand pounds of TNT just for grins, but never really expected that such was the case.

It's kind of hard to set off nuclear weapons without some evidence and I would think that fooling nations who have had many decades of experience with such would be hard to do.

Is Kim going to play the same stupid game that Saddam played?

I say bomb the crap out of NK and let SK reap the spoils.

Considering how small the explosion was (which would indicate something went wrong) and the fact that the test was underground perhaps the radiation that leaked was very small in quantity, or less likely non at all. The WC-135 took the samples in the Sea Of Japan, that's at least 100 miles from the test site. Another thing to consider is that this initial sample was taken only a day after the test so I'd be more interested in the other samples.

North Korea says it has carried out its first test of a nuclear weapon.

It said the underground test, carried out in defiance of international warnings, was a success and had not resulted in any leak of radiation.

The US said intelligence had detected a seismic event at a suspected test site and Russia said it was "100% certain" a nuclear test had occurred.


Source.

Could the fact that North Korea has explicitly stated that the test "had not resulted in any leak of radiation" be the reason for this?

I still say it could be a farce... wouldn't be the first time that they pulled some pretty crazy stuff...like kidnapping Japanese civilians. The man is an attention hound and it really wouldn't surprise me one iota if he was jealous of the fact that Iran was getting more attention than he was. Was he an only child or did he have siblings and if he did, did they survive his rise to power? Those are serious questions by the way.

Originally posted by Implosion
Could the fact that North Korea has explicitly stated that the test "had not resulted in any leak of radiation" be the reason for this?

Is that possible? I don't know, but it makes a good cover.

It sounds like one of those "want to see it again?" jokes.

Could just be they did not achieve critical mass but managed to set off the HE (out of synch) and lost blast. Could be he filled a mine with ANFO and let her rip. He does have plutonium... would he waste some doing this? He may of had to... the effect is similar either way.

The Great Leader of DPRK, demi-god, author of 1500 books in college, a 38 under par golf score, and pain in the butt Lil' Kim is still in the spotlight. We'll see if he pops another "fake" sooner or later... maybe somewhere we would not be comfortable with. As was said he is not afraid to interfere with anything. I do not understand the general tolerance for this fellow to this point.

Victor K.

41'


[edit on 13-10-2006 by V Kaminski]

In short Kim suffered from a premature ejaculation...colitis interruptus...erectal disfunction...a limp willie...

i can't recall the name of the US plan for a 750 ton non-nuclear bomb to soon go off out there around Las Vegas, there was a thread or two about it in ATS.

It could be that N.K. did the same thing?
It is logical to monitor seismic events, like the world has done,
but a telltale sign of a misfire of a 'pre-announced' nuke
would be a shake up of the scientific community or the military arm
in charge of that nuclear test.

An unforgiving, supreme leader, would be hard pressed to not have
Heads Rolling over the embarrassment of a dud nuke.
so, i'd have those undercover 'assets' & spies, looking for big changes
in the scientists & technicions community in N Korea for a real indication of whats what

They've found evidence of radioactivity emmanating from the site:
North Korea's Nuke Test-Radiation Confirmed (atsnn)

I too believe it was a hoax.Anybody remember the mysterious explosion at the train station a few years ago?? I believe they have been stockpiling conventional explosives to simulate a nuclear test.Something went wrong during transport and-BOOM!! I think that if that accident hadn't have happened,They would've been boasting about their test awhile ago

Thats an interesting counter-point Arnomann.

Originally posted by ARNOMANNN
I too believe it was a hoax.Anybody remember the mysterious explosion at the train station a few years ago??

A link for those who may have missed it:

Train Explosion in North Korea; 161 Dead & 1300 Injured

Also see this:

Mushroom Cloud Seen After N.Korea Explosion 9/9/04

[edit on 13-10-2006 by UM_Gazz]

Well, so much for the initial sample, here is what the US government is officially reporting.

WASHINGTON - An air sampling taken after North Korea’s claimed nuclear test detected radioactive debris consistent with an atomic explosion, Bush administration and congressional officials said Friday night.

One U.S. government official said intelligence officials assigned an 80 percent probability that the North Korean explosion was a nuclear detonation, based on the air sample collected Wednesday. The official said it appeared highly unlikely that the sample of radioactive material was produced by any other source, including a nuclear power reactor.

The official also said additional sampling might be conducted, not necessarily by airborne means. He would not elaborate, citing security concerns.

A senior administration official suggested that the North Korean test was a dud. "The betting is that this was an attempt at a nuclear test that failed," the official said. "We don't think they were trying to fake a nuclear test, but it may have been a nuclear fizzle."

Link

Has any other country come forward saying that they also have found traces of radiation? Unfortunately, I am having a hard time believing anything the US government says anymore.

Hmmm, a "small" explosion for a nuke. And the Russians say that they are 100% that the explosion was nuclear. I believe it was a suitcase nuke. The Russians don't want to admit they exist (suitcase nukes). I made a thread:

The World's Most Accessible Nuclear Facility

I still stick to my theory that it was a poorly designed nuclear or thermonuclear plutonium-based device that blew apart before the full nuclear reaction could take place.

LMAO! Detenationous Interruptis! Anyone care to speculate on what's going to happen to the Techs in charge of THIS no-clear explosion?