Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe in January 2017

Re:Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe... by lostlogin on Saturday February 18, 2017 @05:11PM (#13676992)

Is there a non zero risk from that dose? I don't know how to apply that result to an individual, but it would seem a likely big extrapolation on the linear no threshhold model. When was the shield moved over Chernobyl, could that have stirred things up?

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Re:Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe... by manarth on Saturday February 18, 2017 @05:17PM (#13677015)

    When was the shield moved over Chernobyl?

November 2016, although the side walls won't be up until August this year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_New_Safe_Confinement

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Re:Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe... by codecamper on Sunday February 19, 2017 @06:40AM (#13679240)

How about a shield UNDER Chernobyl? Isn't the core still unstable & prone to heat-up / meltdown still?

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Re:Detection of radioactive iodine at trace levels in Europe... by manarth on Sunday February 19, 2017 @07:41AM (#13679418)

  How about a shield UNDER Chernobyl?

They recognised the issue right away. Firstly, the bubbler pool was emptied of water (there was fear that if the core reached the water, it would cause a steam explosion). They started using liquid nitrogen to freeze the ground beneath the reactor, then scrapped that idea and filled the bubbler pool with concrete instead.

They started digging a tunnel in May 1986 [1] (7 days after the accident), with a void below the reactor. They planned to fit a heat-exchanger into the void. It's not clear whether it was ever installed, but the consensus is that if it was installed, it was never used, and the core didn't reach the void [2].

[1] https://wiseinternational.org/chernobyl-disaster

[2] http://knowledgeglue.com/amazing-un-seen-photos-chernobyl-di...

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