China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection has been conducting emergency radiation monitoring in response to rising concerns over possible radioactive fallout from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) nuclear test last Wednesday.
So far, at its 36 monitoring spots in the areas alongside the China-DPRK border, with some as close as 75 kilometers to the tremor site, no radioactive pollution has been detected.
Hao Guofan, deputy director of the Jilin Provincial radiation environmental monitoring station, said all readings are within normal range. He added that all 36 monitoring spots are equipped with nuclear monitoring detectors and high pressure ionization chambers, which are used to measure environmental radiation does.
“They are detecting radiation through sodium iodide crystals.There are balls full of inert gases set in high pressure ionization chambers for radiation dose rates measurement. They are the equipment with the highest accuracy rate, stability and sensitivity. All monitoring data is electronically transferred in real-time to our national data center. The radiation dose data we see on the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s website is released from here,” said Hao.
In addition to the auto-monitoring instruments, there are two other instruments that rely on human sampling: radioiodine sampler and large flow detector. They can test a variety of typical pollutants, including Iodine-131.
“Iodine-131 is a nuclide that exists at the beginning stage of nuclear explosion. We can distinguish whether we are affected by the hydrogen bomb test by detecting it. As long as this contaminant flies into our territory through the general atmospheric circulation, flies to our position, we can detect it immediately,” said Hao.
Guo Chengzhan, deputy director of the State Bureau of Nuclear Safety, said there’s no reason to worry about the rumor of radioactive fallout.
“Despite these 36 monitoring spots, we also dispatched 14 flowing detection teams. A total of over 500 personnel, along with those who work in detection teams and large laboratories, are being put into the detection work. Through three days of continuous monitoring and data analysis, we have ruled out large-scale emissions. We are still monitoring on possible radiation in small doses. Real-time detection and analysis will be continued and reported in a timely manner,” said Guo. (CCTV/Reuters)