Fukushima Radiation Moving Steadily Across Pacific

[villager]

Fukushima Radiation Moving Steadily Across Pacific

Concentrated levels found as scientists sample the Pacific for signs of Fukushima


Teams of scientists have already found debris and levels of radiation far off the coast of Japan, one year after the nuclear disaster at Fukushima. Reports are now suggesting that nuclear radiation has traveled at a steady pace. That contaminated debris and marine life could reach the US coast as soon as one year from now, depending on ocean currents.

A sample of copepods taken during a June 2011 cruise aboard the R/V Ka'imikai-O-Kanaloa off the northeast coast of Japan. (Ken Kostel, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)

Radiation from Fukushima's nuclear disaster is appearing in concentrated levels in sea creatures and ocean water up to 186 miles off of the coast of Japan. The levels of radiation are 'hundreds to thousands of times higher than would be expected naturally' according to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Researchers are questioning how the radioactive accumulation on the seafloor will effect the marine ecosystem in the future.

"What this means for the marine environment of the Northwest Pacific over the long term is something that we need to keep our eyes on," said the WHOI.

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https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/03-2

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. This needs to be monitored; I'm glad the WHOI are doing it. n/t

[no_hypocrisy]

2. At what point will fish and seafood from the Pacific be banned?

[jeff47]

5. Never. Common Dreams is fear-mongering. The WHOI report doesn't say what they say. (nt)

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. There's nothing in the WHOI report about a 'steady' movement, or that it might reach the US

Common Dreams seem to have made that up themselves, with no justification in the 2 articles they link to. What the WHOI article does say is that the currents mean that the radioactive substances have not spread out in a simple pattern:

As if to underscore that complexity, the group found that the Kuroshio acted as a barrier that prevented the movement of radionuclides to the south. In addition, they found the highest levels of radiation not in samples taken within sight of the reactors, but in those taken much further south along the coast of Ibaraki. The drifter tracks later revealed that an eddy, a swirling mass of water that sometimes breaks off from strong currents like the Kuroshio, had formed in the area and hugged the coast, likely drawing in contaminated water and maintaining higher concentrations of radionuclides.

http://www.whoi.edu/page/live.do?pid=7545&tid=3622&cid=133509

[caraher]

4. Monitoring is important, but there's no need to freak out over all Pacific seafood

So far, the elevated levels measured are small. From the Woods Hole article:

"The radioactivity of the fish we caught and analyzed would not pose problems for human consumption," said Fisher. "It does not mean all marine organisms caught in the region are perfectly safe to eat. That's still an open question. There are still likely to be hot spots in sediments close to shore and closer to the power plant that may have resulted in very contaminated species in those areas. Further study and appropriate monitoring will help clarify this issue."

But it will be important to follow where the long-lived isotopes go, since

Their initial results, detailed in the PNAS paper indicate that the combined amount of radioactive material from the damaged power plant constitutes the largest accidental release of radiation to the ocean in history.

Finding hotspots and monitoring bioaccumulation both need to be done to assure food safety and determine ecological impacts, which are can be hard to predict.