New study delves into issues relating to soils around Maralinga region, https://www.portlincolntimes.com.au/story/7262167/study-shows-radioactive-particles-from-nuclear-testing-persist-at-maralinga, Luca Cetta, A new study has highlighted the first international standards needed to safeguard against contamination from nuclear testing, and a Kokatha Elder says the impact of nuclear testing at Maralinga cannot be forgotten. More than 100 kilograms of highly toxic uranium and plutonium…
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Monash University
Australian scientists pave the way to the first International standards needed to safeguard against contamination from nuclear testing
More than 100kg of highly toxic uranium (U) and plutonium (Pu) was dispersed in the form of tiny ‘hot’ radioactive particles after the British detonated nine atomic bombs in remote areas of South Australia, including Maralinga.
Scientists have new evidence to show these radioactive particles persist in soils to this day, more than 60 years after the detonations. Previously, we had limited understanding of how Pu was released from these “hot” particles into the environment for uptake by wildlife around Maralinga.
6 May 2021 /
Micrometeorites: constant barrage
There’s a lot of space dust falling on Earth every year. Good thing most of it is so small.
Tiny micrometeorites - invisible to the naked eye - are constantly raining down on Earth. Credit: bjdlzx/Getty Images
Ann Hodges was chilling on her couch in Alabama, US, one afternoon in 1954 when a meteorite burst through the roof and slammed into her side, leaving an enormous bruise.
It’s exceedingly rare to be hit by a big space rock – the one that hit Hodges weighed about four kilograms.
But scientists have found the Earth is under constant bombardment by thousands of tonnes of micrometeorites. The “cosmic dust”, though, is so fine someone might never realise it had rained down upon them.