Canary Islands haze contains radioactive material

Canary Island haze contains radioactive material

Canary Islands haze contains radioactive material from French nuclear tests, according to a study.

A  study has revealed that haze arriving in the Canary Islands can contain radioactive material from the 1960s, according to Canarias hora. In the 60s, French nuclear tests were carried out in the Algerian desert.

The study looked at haze that had arrived and found that it had contained high levels of caesium-137. Caesium-137 is a radioactive isotope that can be detected after a nuclear explosion. The study has been published by the French Association for the Control of Radioactivity in the West (Acro).

According to the study, Saharan dust discovered in France contained unusually high levels of the isotope according to Euronews. The haze could be seen from space covering the Alps.

The Laboratory of Medical Physics and Environmental Radioactivity at the University of La Laguna in Tenerife revealed that haze contains caesium 137 from the French government’s nuclear tests. The levels found in the Saharan dust are not harmful to health.

According to the study: “Considering homogeneous deposits over a wide area, based on this analytical result, ACRO estimates that there are 80,000 Bq per km2 of caesium-137.”


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Alex
Written by

Alex Glenn

Originally from the UK, Alex is based in Almeria and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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