The U.S. Air Force’s WC-135 Constant Phoenix aircraft, capable of detecting nuclear explosions, deployed to the United Kingdom last week for a routine mission, the service said Wednesday.
The “nuke hunter” plane, also known as the “sniffer,” is on a “pre-planned rotational deployment scheduled in advance,” Air Force spokeswoman Erika Yepsen told Military.com.
The WC-135 “regularly flies around the world for missions,” added Col. Patrick Ryder. “Any of the reporting in terms of having another reason [is] not grounded in fact,” the service’s chief spokesman said.
There has been ongoing speculation the U.S. sent the detection aircraft to Europe after an alleged Russian nuclear test, which caused radioactive levels to “spike” in areas such as Norway, according to The Aviationist blog, which first tracked the aircraft Feb. 17.
The aircraft belongs to the 45th Reconnaissance Squadron, 55th Operations Group, at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.
According to the The French Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety Institute, a research organization and environmental protection advocacy agency that tracks nuclear activity throughout the globe, trace amounts of Iodine-131 (131I) — a radioisotope of iodine that has a radioactive decay half-life of about eight days — were detected in Norway, Finland, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, France and Spain throughout January.
The presence of Iodine-131 “is proof of a rather recent release,” the organization said.
Government agencies have not come forward to explain the radiation. Experts, however, say the leaks are not a mystery.
Scientist Jayde Lovell, host of TYT network’s ScIQ and executive director of ReAgency, a PR firm that specializes in science storytelling, told the International Business Times UK, “Iodine-131 is not a mystery.
“It’s released in low levels normally as part of nuclear power and, since nuclear power is common throughout Europe, it’s not unusual to be able to detect trace amounts during certain types of weather, particularly the cold weather of a European winter,” she told the newspaper.
“I would be expecting to see a lot more and more different kinds of radiation than just Iodine-131 if it was a nuclear test,” Lovell said.
Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09
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