Sahara sand falls on Europe - it is radioactive; Creepy study published

Between 2022 and 2024, there was significant precipitation of sand – or rather, dust – from the Sahara in Europe. This phenomenon is known for the surreal haze between orange and yellow.

Regardless of the various conspiracy theories, Saharan dust still plays an important role in influencing our planet's climate system, as well as solar radiation, cloud cover, and even air quality. So it also affects our health. Apart from the mechanical effects on our respiratory system - we are still talking about fine particles that can be inhaled - scientists take into account the composition of the dust.

A new study led by scientists from the University of Paris-Saclay focused on the analysis of desert particles that fell on Europe in 2022, collected thanks to the collaboration of several scientists.

Of the more than 100 samples taken, about fifty were analyzed, coming from six countries: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain. The aim was to detect the potential transport of radioactive isotopes such as cesium-137, plutonium-239 and plutonium-240, which were indeed identified by careful laboratory investigations. In addition to background contamination from US and former Soviet nuclear tests in the last century, which are among the main sources, the study also revealed a specific component related to nuclear tests conducted in the Sahara desert itself.

It is about the infamous Reggane series, in Algeria, a set of four atmospheric nuclear tests that France conducted in the desert of southern Algeria between February 1960 and April 1961. Although the French authorities assured that the Gerbois blue, white, red and green detonations were supposed to be "harmless" because they were carried out in uninhabited places, tens of thousands of people suffered serious health problems from them: from cancer to blindness, including congenital malformations.

Like the tests in other countries, the radioactive fallout from the atomic explosions, carried out at the Sahara Center for Military Experiments not far from Reggane, was deposited in the environment, and therefore in the desert dust, which, as we know, is carried further into the world. According to scientists' calculations, every year this North African region emits hundreds of millions of tons of Saharan dust. As much as 12 percent reaches Europe with intense phenomena such as those recorded in recent years.

Because some were particularly significant, the researchers wanted to investigate the radioactivity of this dust. Fortunately, the concentrations of cesium-137, plutonium-239, and plutonium-240, while having different signatures than those of other US and Russian nuclear tests, have not been found by analysis to pose a threat to public health.

"Plutonium isotopic signatures, the unique fingerprint of a nuclear bomb, remained within the range of global fallout traces largely dominated by US and former Soviet Union nuclear testing, significantly different from the French signatures. However, the radioactive contamination detected in all samples did not pose a public health risk in terms of radioactivity exposure," the study authors wrote.

This radioactivity, however, is a warning of the consequences of reckless human actions, especially those related to the use of weapons of mass destruction, which can affect people and the environment for very long periods.