Nuclear test gassy aftermath
Irma claims 50 as clean up begins
SOUTH Korea says traces of radioactive xenon gas were confirmed to be from a North Korean nuclear test earlier this month, but it was unable to conclude whether the test had been for a hydrogen bomb as Pyongyang claimed.
North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test on September 3, prompting the UN Security Council to step up sanctions with a ban on the reclusive regime’s textile exports and a cap on fuel supplies.
The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission said its land-based xenon detector in the northeastern part of the country found traces of xenon-133 isotope on nine occasions, while its mobile equipment off the country’s east coast detected traces of the isotope four times.
“It was difficult to find out how powerful the nuclear test was with the amount of xenon detected, but we can say the xenon was from North Korea,” Choi Jongbae, executive commissioner, said at a news conference in Seoul.
The commission could not confirm what kind of nuclear test the North conducted, he added.
Xenon is a naturally occurring, colourless gas that is used in manufacturing of some sorts of lights.
But the detected xenon-133 is a radioactive isotope that does not occur naturally and which has been linked to North Korea’s nuclear tests in the past.
The NSCC also said the xenon traces detected had no impact on South Korea’s environment and population.
North Korea has vowed to accelerate its weapons programs in response to the “evil” sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council following its latest and most powerful nuclear test.
The respected 38 North website in the US raised its estimate for the yield from the explosion, which Pyongyang says was a hydrogen bomb small enough to fit onto a missile, to around 250 kilotons — more than 16 times the size of the device that devastated Hiroshima in 1945.
The UN Security Council unanimously imposed an eighth set of sanctions on the North Monday, banning it from trading in textiles and restricting its oil imports, which US President Donald Trump said was a prelude to stronger measures. RESIDENTS of the Florida Keys ravaged by Hurricane Irma, which has left at least 12 dead statewide, discovered scenes of desolation as they returned home amid a massive operation to restore electricity to three US states.
As emergency workers picked through the rubble, Irma’s death toll in Florida rose from an earlier figure of two. The storm has now killed at least 50 people across the Caribbean and the United States.
Shattered mobile homes, grounded sailboats and jumbled mounds of debris greeted Keys residents as police began lifting roadblocks to the islands following the passage of Hurricane Irma.
“We don’t have much left,” Patty Purdo, a 55-year-old waitress, said as she surveyed her home in the wreckage of the Seabreeze trailer park on the island of Islamorada.
European leaders visited the storm-ravaged Caribbean meanwhile amid criticism over relief efforts and the White House announced that President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, would visit Florida.
Brock Long, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), said Irma caused major damage in the Keys, a 195km string of islands off Florida’s southern coast. Ninety per cent of the archipelago’s homes have been destroyed or significantly damaged he said.
The islands had been all but cut off since the storm struck early Sunday, and bore the brunt of Irma’s damage while the rest of the Sunshine State fared relatively better.
With more than 15 million people without electricity in Florida, one million in neighbouring Georgia and 20,000 in South Carolina, authorities launched a massive effort to restore power. “We’re having over 30,000 individuals from out of state helping us get our power back on,” Governor Scott said.