What is Putin up to? US 'nuclear sniffer' plane is sent to Britain as wave of deadly radioactive

[Liberal In Red State]

particles spreads across Europe

A US Air Force plane used to detect nuclear explosions has been sent to Britain amid concerns over a spike in the levels of radioactivity found in Europe.
The WC-135 Constant Phoenix, which is known as a nuclear 'sniffer' plane, was deployed to RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk last week on an undisclosed mission.
News of the deployment comes amid claims Russia may be testing nuclear weapons, either to the east or in the arctic, after a spike in radioactivity was reported.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4245586/US-nuclear-sniffer-plane-Britain-nuclear-spike.html

So I'm wondering whether Putin is providing cover for dRump? Distraction from the investigation of the Russian dRump connections?

[Else You Are Mad]

1. Nuclear weapons tests...

Even for smaller tests are readily detectable by every major government. If they were testing such, there is no way that there wouldn't be headlines.

[Brother Buzz]

2. Shit, every seismic scientist in the world....

could pinpoint the location with a reasonable degree of accuracy in a mater of minutes

[Wounded Bear]

3. Yeah, explosions have siesmic fingerprints that are readily detectable...

that's how we've been able to detect how NK has been progressing in its Nuclear capability.

This might be something else.

[Brother Buzz]

4. Medical Iodine-131 that escaped the reservation?

[KittyWampus]

5. I can't find one mainstream news source covering this in the USA & the DailyMail is conservative.

[PoliticAverse]

6. What you don't trust the DailyFail? n/t

[Wounded Bear]

7. Yeah, this might just be a routine training mission...

or another move to counter Russian moves, like the cruise missile launcher they moved closer to the border.

[Denzil_DC]

8. The Independent's usually a better source than the Mail.

Here's its take:

Mysterious radiation spreading across Europe after authorities keep it secret

Mysterious radioactive spikes are being found across Europe – and nobody quite knows why.

Iodine-131, a man-made radioactive material, is being found in small amounts across the continent. It was found in northern Norway early in January, according to officials, but has been gradually moving across the rest of Europe ever since.

But despite finding the material in January, authorities didn’t announce that it had been found until recent days. That might be because it isn't at all clear where it has come from or how it got to be spread out.

Further information makes the find even more unusual. Iodine-131 is usually found alongside other radioactive materials, but it wasn't. And it has a short half-life – the time required for one half of the atoms of a radioactive substance to disintegrate – but a significant amount of it was found, meaning that it is likely that it was introduced very recently.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/radiation-europe-russian-missile-strike-radioactive-material-france-norway-iodine-131-irsn-a7591886.html

No conclusions in the article, but one of the less sinister (and perhaps more plausible) possibilities it mentions is that it could be a leak from a pharmaceutical facility.