In March 2022, dust from the Sahara reached Europe carrying radioactive isotopes. An international team of climatologists discovered that the source of these isotopes was nuclear tests conducted by the USA and the USSR during the Cold War, rather than the French nuclear tests in Algeria in the 1960s. A total of 53 dust samples were analyzed, and it was found that the plutonium isotope ratio matched that of the American and Soviet tests. Although the level of radioactivity in the dust does not pose a health risk, the Saharan dust is an ecological concern.
Sahara dust in Europe has US/USSR nuclear test isotopes.
