FOPH sets up radioactivity measuring station on the Jungfraujoch
Keystone-SDA
The Federal Office of Public Health has set up a station to measure radioactivity on the Jungfraujoch in the Bernese Oberland. This highest measuring station in Europe was inaugurated on Tuesday by Interior Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider.
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At an altitude of over 3,400 metres above sea level, a radioactive cloud that reaches Switzerland after a nuclear incident abroad can be quickly detected and classified before the radioactivity reaches inhabited areas, wrote the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH).
If radioactivity is detected, a direct report is sent to the National Alarm Centre, it explained. This means that the necessary protective measures can be taken quickly.
The new measuring station supplements the radioactivity measurements that are carried out at lower-lying locations in Switzerland, the statement continued. The station measures radioactivity in the air by identifying individual radionuclides, such as radioactive iodine or caesium, and determining their concentration.
+ Radioactivity still shows up in Switzerland
No more measurement flights necessary
According to the FOPH, the new radioactivity measuring station will replace the previous measurement flights of the Tiger aircraft fleet, which will be decommissioned in 2027.
The development and acquisition costs of the new measuring station totalled CHF450,000 ($560,000). The maintenance costs are around CHF30,000 per year. This is cheaper than retrofitting new military aircraft or drones for test flights, the health office said. The maintenance costs for the entire network for monitoring radioactivity in the air amount to CHF250,000 per year.
According to the FOPH, this is the second permanent measuring station of the interior ministry at the high alpine research station. The Jungfraujoch is also home to a large number of measuring instruments for monitoring the atmosphere from the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss.
The new measuring station is part of a European measuring network comprising 50 similar, highly sensitive stations. The systems have to withstand temperatures of down to -30°C, humidity and strong winds and circulate large volumes of air, the FOPH wrote.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
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