They likely have been, breathing in outside air and measuring radioxenon.
Sweden developed the SAUNA and the US has its ARSA and RASA systems, all of which have been operational since the early 2000s and likely had predecessors before then.
It's interesting to note how the West discovered there had been a nuclear accident in the USSR when Chernobyl exploded. The Forsmark reactor in Sweden detected the fallout on the clothing of workers returning to the plant after lunch, IIRC.
Surprised this station seems to post-date that? Seems like it would have been handy to have in the Cold War. Then again, Russia has long had a mining presence on Svalbard so maybe that has something to do with it.
How technically challenging is this? I would expect that all weather monitoring stations are already kitted out with all the detectors they can bolt onto the air intake. CO2, oxygen, air pressure, humidity, radioactivity, love in the air, whatever.
If you already have the facility why not record everything? Or is a good radiation detector a $$$$ investment?
It seems to me that the activity will just be continued.
For some reason Finland didn't want to runt it anymore and
Norway took over.
"""The Finnish Meteorological Institute is to discontinue its air monitoring in Svalbard, and on October 1st, the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) will take over ownership of its air sampling equipment."""
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[ 2.5 ms ] story [ 46.2 ms ] threadSweden developed the SAUNA and the US has its ARSA and RASA systems, all of which have been operational since the early 2000s and likely had predecessors before then.
Turned out they had been eating grass that had become radioactive somehow from drifting fallout from Chernobyl?
Once the radioactivity gets into the dirt it just sits there for years and years
Surprised this station seems to post-date that? Seems like it would have been handy to have in the Cold War. Then again, Russia has long had a mining presence on Svalbard so maybe that has something to do with it.
If you already have the facility why not record everything? Or is a good radiation detector a $$$$ investment?
"""The Finnish Meteorological Institute is to discontinue its air monitoring in Svalbard, and on October 1st, the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (DSA) will take over ownership of its air sampling equipment."""
https://www.highnorthnews.com/en/signs-russia-gearing-new-nu...
>>This activity is believed to be connected to another test of nuclear-powered cruise missile called the Burevestnik, reports Radio Liberty.