Citing an analysis by the Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) in Vienna, Nature published a breaking news story called 'Sensors pick up North Korean radioactivity’ on 19 February 2013, which said that scientists had detected radioactive xenon-133 from North Korea's nuclear test a week before.
After the story was published, the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in Vienna contacted Nature to say that the radioisotope station primarily responsible for the measurement, located in Takasaki, Japan, regularly detects xenon-133 from surrounding nuclear facilities. Following discussion with the ZAMG scientists, both bodies concluded that the xenon-133 seen in Japan cannot be directly linked to the North Korean test. The ZAMG has taken down its analysis of the xenon release from its website. As a result, Nature has decided to remove the text of its story from its website.
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The online version of the original article can be found at 10.1038/nature.2013.12464
This article was corrected on 20 February 2013
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Brumfiel, G. Correction: Sensors pick up North Korean radioactivity. Nature (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2013.12464
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2013.12464
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