In reply to Jed Rothwell's message of Tue, 10 Oct 2006 09:21:34 -0400: Hi, [snip] >>They would need to have something in orbit wouldn't they? > >No. As I suggested, trace amounts of radioactive material migrate out >via the instrument leads. See: > >http://www.slate.com/id/2151214/nav/tap2/
Even if small amounts of radioactive material did come out via the instrument leads, or even through cracks in the ground, I still fail to see how this could be detected in Hokkaido. The surface of the Earth is curved, and the test site would be well below the horizon, as seen from the University. Since gammas follow line of sight, they would have to pass through hundreds of km of rock to get there. In short, what were they expecting to see? OTOH, gamma emitting radioactive materials that reached the surface would easily be detected from orbit. The USA must have been watching, they had plenty of warning. On my third hand ;) , we only have reports on the news that any of this happened at all. Perhaps the whole thing is a planted story to make the North Koreans look bad? Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://users.bigpond.net.au/rvanspaa/ Competition provides the motivation, Cooperation provides the means.
