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Fukushima’s nuclear signature found in California wine
Throughout the 1950s, the US, the Soviet Union, and others tested thermonuclear weapons in the Earth’s atmosphere. Those tests released vast quantities of radioactive material into the air and triggered fears that the nuclear reactions could ignite deuterium in the oceans, thereby destroying the planet in a catastrophic accidental fireball.
Atmospheric tests ended in 1980, when China finished its program, but the process has left a long-lasting nuclear signature on the planet. One of the most obvious signatures is cesium-137, a radioactive by-product of the fission of uranium-235.
After release into the atmosphere, cesium-137 was swept around the world and found its way into the food supply in trace quantities. Such an addition is rarely welcomed. But in 2001, the French pharmacologist Philippe Hubert discovered that he could use this signature to date wines without opening the bottles.
The technique immediately became a useful weapon in the fight against wine fraud—labeling young wines as older vintages to inflate their price. Such fraud can be spotted by various types of chemical and isotope analysis—but only after the wine has been opened, which destroys its value.
Cesium-137, on the other hand, allows noninvasive testing because it is radioactive. It produces distinctive gamma rays in proportion to the amount of isotope present. Dating the wine is a simple process of matching the amount of cesium-137 to atmospheric records from the time the wine was made. That quickly reveals any fraud. Indeed, if there is no cesium-137, the wine must date from after 1980.
There is one blip in this record, though. The Chernobyl disaster in 1986 bathed much of Europe, and other parts of the world, in a radioactive cloud that increased atmospheric levels of cesium-137 again. Hubert and colleagues can see this blip in their data from wines.
And that raises an interesting question about the Fukushima disaster of 2011, an accident of Chernobyl proportions caused by a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan following a huge earthquake and tsunami. It released a radioactive cloud that bathed North America in fissile by-products.
Is it possible to see the effects of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in California wines produced at the time?
Today we get an answer, thanks to a study carried out by Hubert and a couple of colleagues. “In January 2017, we came across a series of Californian wines (Cabernet Sauvignon) from vintage 2009 to 2012,” say Hubert and company.
This set of wines provides the perfect test. The Fukushima disaster occurred on March 11, 2011. Any wine made before that date should be free of the effects, while any dating from afterward could show them.
The team began their study with the conventional measurement of cesium-137 levels in the unopened bottles. That showed levels to be indistinguishable from background noise.
But the team was able to carry out more-sensitive tests by opening the wine and reducing it to ash by evaporation. This involves heating the wine to 100 degrees Celsius for one hour and then increasing the temperature to 500 degrees Celsius for eight hours. In this way, a standard 750-milliliter bottle of wine produces around four grams of ashes. The ashes were then placed in a gamma ray detector to look for signs of cesium-137.
Using this method, Hubert and his colleagues found measurable amounts of cesium-137 above background levels in the wine produced after 2011. “It seems there is an increase in activity in 2011 by a factor of two,” conclude the team.
That probably won’t be very useful for fraud detection in California wine—the levels of cesium-137 are barely detectable, and even then, only if the wine is destroyed.
But the result does show how nuclear disasters can have unexpected consequences long after the fact.
19 Comments on "Fukushima’s nuclear signature found in California wine"
onlooker on Sun, 22nd Jul 2018 6:55 pm
Ingested radiation is much worse than airborne exposure. Right?
MASTERMIND on Sun, 22nd Jul 2018 6:59 pm
Imagine when the global economy collapses and around 400 of these suckers meltdown and explode…it will be a total extinction event..
RIP 7 billion
MASTERMIND on Sun, 22nd Jul 2018 7:14 pm
IMF warns G20 economic leaders that tariffs hurting global economy
https://www.reuters.com/article/g20-argentina/imf-warns-g20-economic-leaders-that-tariffs-hurting-global-economy-idUSL1N1UH06R
Makati1 on Sun, 22nd Jul 2018 7:22 pm
MM, you want it to be that way, but it won’t be. The nuke plants will just go on as usual. You have a weird picture of the financial collapse, which is already in progress, BTW. Signs of the times…
“Goldilocks On The Rocks: Why Next Week’s GDP Will Be “The Last Best Print””
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-22/goldilocks-rocks-one-bank-expects-next-weeks-gdp-be-last-best-print
“”Highly Unstable Equilibrium”: Why One CIO Expects China Will Crash The Market “To Restore Balance””
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-22/highly-unstable-equilibrium-why-one-cio-expects-china-will-crash-market-restore
“Trade Deficits And The American Empire”
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-22/trade-deficits-and-american-empire
“Super-Rich Now Spend Up To $23 Million For Second Passport”
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-21/super-rich-now-spend-23-million-second-passport
Your masters are preparing to leave the sinking ship, the USS DEBT. The collapse is in progress. Slip slidin’…
MASTERMIND on Sun, 22nd Jul 2018 7:27 pm
madkat
The nuke plants will go down when the global economy collapses..you think people are going to stay and work for free when their corporation goes bankrupt and can’t pay them? And the stores start running out of food? They are going to scram..You moron..you are just too afraid because you are a weak old geezer..
This is what happens when your dick falls off..
LMfaO!
Makati1 on Sun, 22nd Jul 2018 8:07 pm
Do you understand collapse, MM? It appears all you understand is zombie flicks and rape of women. Do you see how insane you look? I still see that fat 12 year old on the couch beating off to porn.
You are already in the collapse. How many nuke plants have melted down? Did I miss that in the news? Did you read ANY of the articles I posted above showing the collapse in action now?
You really need psychiatric help MM.
Outcast_Searcher on Sun, 22nd Jul 2018 9:43 pm
Do you understand what “barely detectable” means, Onlooker? And only then if the wine is heavily processed and reduced?
Get a grip.
JuanP on Sun, 22nd Jul 2018 9:58 pm
MM dreams of instant collapse and a nuclear catastrophe because his only plan for the future is to blow his brains out, as he has repeatedly told us. I wonder if he has the balls to pull the trigger when his time comes? I think he will simply keep having a sad life and dreaming of raping for many years to come. You should start prepping, MM, like we always suggest to you.
MASTERMIND on Sun, 22nd Jul 2018 10:17 pm
Madkat
Collapse is an event, not a process..The OECD is falling but hasn’t totally collapsed yet..the collapse will be swift..Think world trade centers.When the oil shortage hits it will likely take a few years and then everything goes offline and nuke plants explode and everyone on earth dies..
JuanP on Sun, 22nd Jul 2018 10:20 pm
Social collapse is a process, not an event, MM.
MASTERMIND on Sun, 22nd Jul 2018 10:32 pm
Trump to Iran’s Rouhani: Never threaten the US again or suffer consequences
https://www.rt.com/usa/433975-trump-rouhani-never-threaten/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=push_notifications&utm_campaign=push_notifications
Oh shit! ww3 is coming! Trump is Israels little bitch boy..
Makati1 on Sun, 22nd Jul 2018 10:41 pm
Notice how MM changes the topic when he is proven to be an idiot? LOL
Collapse: “a drastic decrease in human population size and/or political/economic/social complexity, over a considerable area, for an extended time.” Note: “EXTENDED TIME”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collapse:_How_Societies_Choose_to_Fail_or_Succeed
MM educated? LMAO
Go Speed Racer on Mon, 23rd Jul 2018 1:41 am
If there’s enough radiation
in the wine bottle,
it will get fizzy like Soda Pop.
joe on Mon, 23rd Jul 2018 10:30 am
@MASTERMIND on Sun, 22nd Jul 2018 7:14 pm
At first glance tariff barriers seem like a stupid idea, just like trying to understand why closing borders is a stupid idea just right at the time when western populations are aging etc.
“https://www.pwc.co.uk/services/economics-policy/insights/the-impact-of-automation-on-jobs.html”
In a world where human capital is not required, we will not need a tourism sector or a recreation industry because people will be paid allot less and their jobs may not be paid at all.
What does that mean? Well for one, you might not be able to send an automated truck over another person’s border, it would be the same as flying a drone. Who can stop it, search it and report it has no basis in law, also who ensures the safety of these things? Without millions of fatbody truckers (one the best employers of blacks) how can the burger and beer industry survive?
Almost the entire stock market is a.i. now, the markets can function without humans, borders and countries and migrants are human concepts, a.i. does not recognise them. Right now the G 20 countries can’t understand Trump because they are behind the curve economically, the Germans are poised to find themselves in sole charge of a massive empire, they cant afford to keep, and it’s going to collapse around them.
MASTERMIND on Mon, 23rd Jul 2018 11:14 am
Madkat
Here is my favorite quote from that book..If you want to cherry pick..So can I..
Humans are very good at propping up the unsustainable and this often leads to a fast and unexpected collapse.. (Tainter 88)
MASTERMIND on Mon, 23rd Jul 2018 11:15 am
Oil prices could jump to $200 a barrel if US and Iran go to war in Persian Gulf, analyst says
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/23/oil-prices-could-hit-200-a-barrel-if-us-and-iran-go-to-war.html
joe on Mon, 23rd Jul 2018 11:59 am
“http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/iraq-syria-iran-are-we-to-destroy-iran-next/”
Pnac plan to remake the middle east, from Bush2-Obomba-Trump we have 20 years of a plan to secure Israel.
Antius on Mon, 23rd Jul 2018 12:36 pm
Millimind wrote: “Imagine when the global economy collapses and around 400 of these suckers [nuclear reactors] meltdown and explode…it will be a total extinction event. RIP 7 billion”
Not really; as I keep saying over and over again. It would be a non-trivial addition to your problems, but globally it would be a long way down the list of dangers that you would face in a breakdown of society. I could provide detailed calculations, but I doubt anyone would read them.
Even if this did happen all of a sudden in a Rick Grimes, Zombie Apocalypse, breakdown of society type scenario, it would not even come close to being a mass extinction event. The pollution released from Chernobyl is estimated to have resulted in 4000 early deaths. If they hadn’t evacuated the contaminated areas, it might have been closer to 10,000 over the following fifty years. This was a power plant that suffered a catastrophic internal explosion and had no containment at all.
The worst case, if all of the world’s light water reactors failed due to sudden massive neglect, and nobody bothered doing anything, might be equivalent to 10-100 Chernobyl accidents spread across the globe. Perhaps 100,000 to 1million early mortalities over 50 years. Sounds horrific, but that is substantially less than the number of deaths due to fossil fuel air pollution in just 1 year, globally, at present.
It would certainly be a pain in the ass if all of the world’s nuclear reactors were to melt down, but it would not of itself, put a dent in the global population. Of course, for that sort of scenario to occur, it would imply a complete breakdown of society. That implies a breakdown in the ability to supply food, water, heating, medical attention, law and order, protection from invasion, etc. Under those circumstances, most of the human population will die in a matter of months from starvation, exposure and disease. Nuclear reactors would be the least of your worries.
lisa on Tue, 25th Sep 2018 9:32 am
Almost the entire stock market is a.i. now, the markets can function without humans, borders and countries and migrants are human concepts, a.i. does not recognise them. Right now the G 20 countries can’t understand Trump because they are behind the curve economically, the Germans are poised to find themselves in sole charge of a massive empire, they cant afford to keep, and it’s going to collapse around them.