In 1986, Soviet minister Yuri Izrael faced a critical decision after the Chernobyl explosion. Tracking radioactive clouds heading toward Moscow, he ordered a secret operation to induce rain, sacrificing southern Belarus to protect Russian cities. Pilots fired silver iodide into the clouds, causing radioactive rain to fall on unsuspecting Belarusian villages.
This covert operation, known as Operation Cyclone, remained classified for years. Hundreds of thousands of Belarusians lived in contaminated areas for 15 years before the region was finally abandoned in 1999. The public often believes the Chernobyl exclusion zone safely contains the radioactivity, but a second contaminated zone exists in southern Belarus.
The proximity trap leads people to think proximity to a nuclear explosion determines exposure, but radioactive gases follow weather patterns. After Chernobyl, heavy rain on 2 May 1986 caused radioactive fallout to pool in Cumbria, England. Radiation levels at Sellafield spiked to 200 times normal background radiation, and topsoil levels reached 4,000 becquerels per square metre.
Despite assurances from environment secretary Kenneth Baker that rain would wash away the isotopes, levels rose to 10,000 bq/m2 in Cumbria and 20,000 bq/m2 in south-west Scotland. Sheep were found to have caesium-137 levels of 1,000 becquerels per kilogram, leading to temporary restrictions on meat sales for 7,000 farms.
Early predictions proved optimistic as mineral-starved plants absorbed radioactive isotopes, and micro-fungi moved caesium-137 from roots to plant tips, where grazing sheep fed. Researchers repeatedly extended their predictions for the duration of contamination.
