Radioactivity in Switzerland: Swiss Air Force Tiger has made upper-air measurements

Swiss Air Force - F-5E Tiger patch.

March 24, 2011

Since the military airfield of Payerne, the jet climbed to 6000 meters to measure the radioactivity as the cloud from Japan might contain. Particle filters will be analyzed by the Federal Office of Public Health. The results will be announced Friday morning.

The F-5E Swiss Air Force, returning to the base of Payerne

At 11 h 15 this morning, an F-5E Tiger Swiss Army landed on the runway at Payerne front swiss TV camera. For Colonel Thierry Goetschmann, yet it is a routine flight. Six times per year, from April to October, it is flying at the request of the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) to measure the presence of radioactive particles into the air. At the announcement of the arrival in Europe of the radioactive cloud Japanese, FOPH organized special flights until Friday and possibly next week.

The plane is heading toward a hangar where mechanics are expecting remove the two tubes attached under his wings. Bare hands, the two men out of metal mesh cylinders on which are fixed two blotters: they are particle filters. The simplest way, they bend over backwards and slipped in two large envelopes they then submit to Philip Steinmann, Deputy Head of Section Environmental Radioactivity in the BAG.

Video below: Story of Christian Doninelli for Swiss Television (in French):

This afternoon, in his laboratory Oberland (Canton of Bern), the scientist will submit these two filters on a gamma detector, for 24 h Journal: "We may find traces of Cesium 137 from the central Japan. Or perhaps in the upper-air measurements that we do tomorrow and Friday, said Philippe Steinmann. But I do not expect dangerous results for the population. "Then why are these measures? "Especially knowing the dispersion of the cloud and see where it goes."

The BAG will publish the results of measurements on his site: http://www.ofsp.admin.ch

Images, Text, Credits: Jean-Paul Guinnard / 24 Heures / TSR.
Translation: Orbiter.ch

Article original en français: http://www.24heures.ch/avion-suisse-proceder-mesures-radioactivite-2011-03-23

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