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Article: South Pole's 'hot' snow: Chernobyl source? (radioactive isotopes in Antarctic snow)
- Article from:
- Science News
- Article date:
- May 12, 1990
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1990 Science Service, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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South Pole's 'hot' snow: Chernobyl source?
Scientists studying Antarctic snow have discovered radioactive isotopes they think may have come from the April 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union. But others question whether significant amounts of Chernobyl's fallout could cross the equator and reach the South Pole.
Geochemist Jack E. Dibb and his colleagues from the University of New Hampshire in Durham analyzed samples collected from a snow pit about 38 kilometers from the South Pole. As expected, the deeper portion of the pit held radioactive layers corresponding to the years 1955 through 1974 -- the peak period of ...