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Britain’s ‘RADIATION’ fog: UK to be hit by CHOKING SMOG as Met Office issues warning
The Met Office have issued a warning for severe weather conditions today and tomorrow
CHOKING ‘radiation’ fog will smother Britain tonight prompting the Met Office to issue warnings for severe weather conditions.
Thick winter mists will engulf swathes of the nation into tomorrow afternoon with some places unlikely to clear through the day.
Poor visibility will spark tailbacks on roads and motorways while railway and air passengers have been warned to expect delays.
Light winds, foggy conditions and traffic emissions will lead to a smog build-up in some regions, experts say.
DEFRA (The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) predicts moderate air pollution levels in some central regions tomorrow, Friday and into the weekend.
A spokesman said: “Isolated pockets of moderate air pollution are possible over central and western parts of the UK on Thursday, especially where light winds and foggy conditions allow the build up of locally emitted pollution, such as near busy roads.
“Isolated pockets of pollution are again possible on Friday and Saturday.”
Weather conditions today and through tonight will be ideal for the formation of thick and troublesome ‘radiation fog’, experts say.
Clear skies will cause ground temperatures to plummet allowing moisture in the air to condense into fog droplets over the next few hours.
Light winds will stop mists clearing leaving many parts of the country under a thick pea-soup through much of the day.
The Met Office said there will be a further risk of fog through the week with weather conditions expected to stay cool and settled.
Forecaster Helen Roberts said: “Mists will quickly develop tonight turning readily into fog, mostly across western areas.
“We have clear skies which will allow heat to radiate from the ground and moisture in the air from recent precipitation and light winds; these factors will lead to the development of radiation fog.
“This fog will become more extensive overnight and we are expecting frosts in the morning with temperatures expected to drop to below freezing.
“Fog will be quite stubborn to shift and could still be an issue into tomorrow afternoon, there are some places where it won’t clear all day.”
A Met Office severe weather warning covers a portion of western Britain through tonight until 11am tomorrow.
Chief forecaster Andy Page said it will thicken over the next few hours and warned to expect rush-hour travel problems.
Visibility could drop to 100 metres in some places bringing dangerous driving conditions and hindering flight take offs, he added.
He said: “Fog is expected to become increasingly widespread through Wednesday evening and overnight into Thursday.
“Slower journey times are possible and there is a chance of delays to flights.
“Fog will thin slowly later on Thursday morning, although some patches may persist into the afternoon in the west of the warning area.”
Regions most at risk will be London and the southeast; northwest England; southwest England Wales and the West Midlands.
Britain is wrapping up for another chilly night with temperatures expected to drop to freezing widely with lows of -2C (28.4F) or -3C (26.6F) in rural regions.
Tomorrow will be another cloudy and murky day across the country with more of the same forecast through the week.
Despite a switch to a more westerly airflow it will feel cold especially across the north where the odd flake of snow is possible, according to Exacta Weather’s James Madden.
He said: “The week will be stay on the cool to chilly side for many parts of the country and some flakes of light snow will pop up here and there among some fine drizzle.”
Currently we have ideal conditions for widespread fog across the country, particularly, for some southern areas, where it could linger for some lengthy periods from tonight.”
Radiation fog is the result of clear skies allowing heat to ‘radiate’ from the ground causing temperatures to drop rapidly and moisture suspended in the air to condense.
A Met Office spokesman said: “If there are clear skies, the heat radiates back into space leading to cooling at the earth’s surface.
“This results in a reduction of the air’s ability to hold moisture which allows water vapour to condense into tiny water droplets eventually leading to the formation of fog.
When temperatures drop low enough, ‘supercooled’ liquid droplets become suspended in the air and can freeze on surfaces, this is the cause of ‘freezing fog’.
WeatherOnline forecaster Simon Keeling added: “Further spells of drizzle here expected for the far northeast of Scotland tonight.
“Elsewhere it will be dry with clearer spells.
“Mist and fog patches will be forming as the night progresses and these will be freezing and dense in central and northern areas.”
Courtesy of express.co.uk
Radioactive Particles Detected Across Europe; Authorities Silent
The radioactive particles were first detected during the second week of January 2017 in Norway.
The nuclear radiation appears to have come from Eastern Europe, but no official statements have been made as to the source.
Radioactive particles are generally associated with nuclear bombs or nuclear energy disasters such as as Chernobyl and Fukushima.
In Norway, Astrid Liland, Head of the Emergency Preparedness at the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority suggested there was no concerns for public health.
Particulate Iodine-131 (value +/- uncertainty) in the atmosphere(µBq/m3. Map by Institute de Radioprotection et de Süreté Nucléaire
She told the Barents Observer, “We do measure small amounts of radioactivity in air from time to time because we have very sensitive measuring equipment. The measurements at Svanhovd in January were very, very low. So were the measurements made in neighboring countries, like Finland. The levels raise no concern for humans or the environment. Therefore, we believe this had no news value.”
The Western mainstream media however, is in overdrive with accusations suggesting Vladimir Putin detonated a Nuclear Device.
The US Air Force has sent a special WC-135 Constant Phoenix, an aircraft specializing in detecting and identifying nuclear explosions to the UK.
Other online sources, suggest the radiation spike is due to “sloppy” tests carried out on natural gas pipeline leaks.
Courtesy of awaresy.com
Highest radiation reading since 3/11 detected at Fukushima No. 1 reactor
The radiation level in the containment vessel of reactor 2 at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 power plant has reached a maximum of 530 sieverts per hour, the highest since the triple core meltdown in March 2011, Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. said.
Tepco said on Thursday that the blazing radiation reading was taken near the entrance to the space just below the pressure vessel, which contains the reactor core.
The high figure indicates that some of the melted fuel that escaped the pressure vessel is nearby.
At 530 sieverts, a person could die from even brief exposure, highlighting the difficulties ahead as the government and Tepco grope their way toward dismantling all three reactors crippled by the March 2011 disaster.
Tepco also announced that, based on its analysis of images taken by a remote-controlled camera, that there is a 2-meter hole in the metal grating under the pressure vessel in the reactor’s primary containment vessel. It also thinks part of the grating is warped.
The hole could have been caused when the fuel escaped the pressure vessel after the mega-quake and massive tsunami triggered a station blackout that crippled the plant’s ability to cool the reactors.
The searing radiation level, described by some experts as “unimaginable,” far exceeds the previous high of 73 sieverts per hour at the reactor.
Tepco said it calculated the figure by analyzing the electronic noise in the camera images caused by the radiation. This estimation method has a margin of error of plus or minus 30 percent, it said.
An official of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences said medical professionals have never considered dealing with this level of radiation in their work.
According to the institute, 4 sieverts of radiation exposure would kill 1 in 2 people.
Experts say 1,000 millisieverts, or 1 sievert, could lead to infertility, loss of hair and cataracts, while exposure to doses above that increases the risk of cancer.
According to Tepco, readings of surface radiation on parts used inside a normally operating pressure vessel can reach several thousands sieverts per hour.
The discovery spells difficulty of removing the fuel debris to decommission at the plant. The government and Tepco hope to locate the fuel and start removing it in 2021.
In the coming weeks, the utility plans to deploy a remote-controlled robot to check conditions inside the containment vessel, but the utility is likely to have to change its plan.
For one thing, it will have to reconsider the route the robot takes into the interior because of the hole in the grating.
Also, given the extraordinary level of radiation, the robot would only be able to operate for less than two hours before it is destroyed.
That is because it is designed to withstand exposure of up to 1,000 sieverts. Based on the calculation of 73 sieverts per hour, the robot could run for more than 10 hours, but 530 sieverts per hour means it would be rendered inoperable in less than two hours.
Tepco has been probing reactor 2’s containment vessel since last week.
On Monday, it found a black mass deposited on the grating directly under the pressure vessel. The images, captured using a camera attached to a telescopic arm the same day, showed part of the grating was missing. Further analysis found the 2-meter hole in an area beyond the missing section on the structure.
If the deposits are confirmed to be melted fuel, it would be the first time the utility has found any of it at the three reactors that suffered core meltdowns.
The world’s worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986 triggered core meltdowns in reactors 1 through 3. Portions of the core in each reactor are believed to have melted through their pressure vessels and pooled at the bottom of their containment vessels.
The actual condition of the melted fuel remains unknown because the radiation is too high to check it.
Meanwhile, a nuclear research organization unveiled on Friday a robot that will be tasked with surveying reactor 1 at the complex.
Tepco plans to send the robot into reactor 1 in March, while its survey plan for reactor 2 remains unclear because of the high radiation levels.
The stick-like robot is 70 cm long and equipped with a camera, according to the International Research Institute for Nuclear Decommissioning.
During a robotic survey in April 2015, the operator found no major obstacles in the path planned in reactor 1 but found water accumulating in the basement.
In the upcoming survey, it hopes to examine the water by deploying a camera and a radiation sensor.
“Confirming the conditions inside the reactor is a first step toward decommissioning,” Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko said in a news conference Friday.
“While difficult tasks and unexpected matters may arise, we will mobilize all of Japan’s technological capabilities to steadily implement decommissioning work and rebuild Fukushima,” he added.
Courtesy of japantimes.co.jp
A solar storm is blasting towards Earth and it could cause CHAOS
Earth is about to be bombarded by a solar storm which could cause mayhem on our planet.
A massive hole in the Sun is spewing out vast amounts of radiation which is expected to reach us by Friday.
We could be in for a beautiful sight, because the radioactive “solar wind” causes Northern Lights to appear in the skies.
But radiation also plays havoc with modern technology and could knock out the satellites which connect modern civilisation.
This means that satellite television, cellphone networks and GPS systems could be brought down.
On the website Space Weather, forecasters wrote: “That massive coronal hole system that faced us four weeks ago is back and it survived its trip around the farside of our star? She’s back!
“This truly gigantic coronal hole managed to cause geomagnetic storming conditions on five consecutive days during the first five days of this month. Fantastic auroral displays were reported from all around the world.
“We believe that this coronal hole become bigger during the past few weeks.”
Courtesy of thesun.co.uk
Fears for airline passengers as an ‘urgent’ investigation is launched into the effects of cosmic rays from the sun on planes Air
Airline passengers could be vulnerable to the effects of cosmic rays from the sun during a massive solar storm, a new report has found.
The Government has ordered Public Health England to conduct an ‘urgent’ investigation into the repercussions of increased radiation caused by a huge explosion of high energy particles from the surface of the sun.
This comes as a report into the UK’s Space Weather Preparedness outlines what needs to be done to cope with a major burst of ‘space weather.’
The document produced by the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) states: ‘The direct impact on public health from the increased radiation environment, which is most likely to affect the general public if they are travelling by air on trans-oceanic routes during the storm, is assessed to be small.
‘However, the work on this area being led by Public Health England needs to be completed urgently.
‘That will lead to a report that sets out recommendations for protecting public health from solar radiation.’
However, there are no radiation monitors on board most aircraft and it would not be possible to advise passengers and air crews exposure.
Data from satellites combined with that from ground level monitoring could be used to estimate the dose, but the report states this would take time to calculate.
‘Both the monitoring of ground level radiation events and radiation at flight altitude is being considered through the development of a Public Health England report to advice on measures for protecting public health from radiation hazards during an extreme space weather event.’
Adrian Melott, a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas, told the Telegraph that neutrons which don’t reach the ground do reach aircraft altitude.
‘Flight crews get a greater radiation dose from neutrons,’ he told the newspaper.
‘In fact, during solar particle events, aeroplanes are diverted away from the North Pole, where a lot more cosmic rays come down.’
The report says that a massive solar phenomenon would disrupt transport networks, cause blackouts and disrupt satellites.
In the worst case scenario the report fears that humanity could have just 12 hours warning before the storm hits.
There have been a number of recorded severe space weather events over the last two centuries.
The last major coronal mass ejection to hit the Earth, known as the Carrington event, was a powerful geomagnetic solar storm in 1859 and is thought to have been the biggest in 500 years.
At the time technology was still relatively underdeveloped, although Telegraph systems all over the world failed and pylons threw sparks.
A large solar flare in March this year knocked out radio transmissions in some parts of the world.
Courtesy of dailymail.co.uk
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