Did a secret Israeli nuclear test send radioactive fallout across Australia? A new study by an Aussie expert says YES

  • Study reveals secret Israeli nuclear test sent radioactive fallout across Australia
  • In September 1979, a nuclear explosion was picked by the US 'Vela' satellite 
  • Speculation of where the 'flash' came from centres on Israel nuclear test

A new study has revealed a secret Israeli nuclear test is likely to have sent radioactive fallout across Australia.

In September 1979, a nuclear explosion was picked by the US 'Vela' satellite from between South Africa and Antarctica near the Marion and Prince Edward islands in the sub-antarctic Indian Ocean, Perth Now reported.

After the 'flash' there was a lot of speculation about what the source was, with allegations that it came from Israel's nuclear testing. 

However, a recent paper published by the Australian Defence Force Academy's Christopher Wright and retired Swedish Defence Research Agency investigator Lars-Erik De Geer has revealed the effect the nuclear explosion had on Australia.  

In September 1979, a nuclear explosion (stock image) was picked by the US 'Vela' satellite

In September 1979, a nuclear explosion (stock image) was picked by the US 'Vela' satellite

Researchers found that iodine-131, an unstable radioactive form of the element iodine, was found in the thyroids of some Australian sheep soon after the flash

Researchers found that iodine-131, an unstable radioactive form of the element iodine, was found in the thyroids of some Australian sheep soon after the flash

The researchers found that iodine-131, an unstable radioactive form of the element iodine, was found in the thyroids of some Australian sheep soon after the flash was detected.

'...it would be consistent with them having grazed in the path of a potential radioactive fallout plume from a [September 22, 1979] low-yield nuclear test in the Southern Indian Ocean,' they wrote.

'...The iodine-131 detections provide robust and credible evidence for a nuclear fission event. 

They concluded that the appearance of iodine-131 was in fact from a nuclear test.

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists contributor Leonard Weiss wrote, 'That study makes it virtually certain that the event was an illegal nuclear test. This strengthens previous analyses concluding that Israel likely carried out a nuclear test in violation of US law and the Limited Test Ban Treaty'.

The Limited Test Ban Treaty went into force in 1963 and bans nuclear explosions in the atmosphere, in outer space, and under water, rendering legal only those nuclear tests performed underground.

Israel had signed the treaty in 1963 and ratified it in 1964.

The information has now been classified for almost 40 years, with the US government pushing to keep the significant intelligence reports private.

The information has now been classified for almost 40 years, with the US government pushing to keep the significant intelligence reports private

The information has now been classified for almost 40 years, with the US government pushing to keep the significant intelligence reports private

Jimmy Carter, who was the US President at the time, recorded in his diary that he was aware of a 'nuclear explosion in the region of South Africa - either South Africa, Israel using a ship at sea, or nothing'. 

This information only became public when he published his book in 2010.

Israel, which has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of a nuclear program, and have also dismissed the claim that it was responsible for the 1979 incident, Perth Now reported.  

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