Category Archives: Location

Cesium, Fukushima, Japan, Marine Life, Peer Reviewed

Field Observations Show Decline of Japan’s Intertidal Biota Near Site of the Fukushima Disaster

1 Comment

By Jay T. Cullen

Shells of sea snails (Thais clavigera); one of the organisms missing from near the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant

The purpose of this post is to report on a newly published, peer-reviewed study in the open access journal Scientific Reports that uses field observations to determine how intertidal species abundance and diversity were affected by the 2011 earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) disaster.  This post is part of an ongoing series dedicated to summarizing the results of scientific studies aimed at understanding the impact of the FDNPP disaster on ecosystem and public health.  Horiguchi and colleagues surveyed intertidal marine organisms and made measurements of artificial radionuclides in specimens in 2011, 2012 and 2013.  They found that in 2012 the number of intertidal organisms was lower closer to the FDNPP than farther away and that the sea snail (Thais clavigera) was absent from sampling locations <30 km from the FDNPP.  Because sea snails were found in other rocky habitats affected by the tsunami in 2011 the absence of these organisms in 2012 near the plant might be related to the FDNPP disaster.  In 2013 both the numbers of organisms and diversity of species were found to be lower at sites within several kilometers south of the FDNPP site.  While, according to the authors, there is no clear explanation for the findings at present it is clear that the intertidal biota has been impacted close to the FDNPP since the disaster.  The authors conclude that:

  1. it is unlikely that the tsunami was solely responsible for changes in the intertidal communities given the distribution of sea snails
  2. other causes might include acute or sub-acute toxicities from the largest leaks from the FDNPP site in March-April 2011 containing artificial radionuclides, boric acid and hydrazine (and other chemicals)
  3. most significant impacts to the intertidal community occurred along the coast south and proximal to FDNPP which likely reflects predominant local water currents

The changes noted by Horiguchi and colleagues in the intertidal community contrast with the lack of significant changes in benthic organisms along the Japanese coast by Sohtome and colleagues that was summarized here.

Continue reading Field Observations Show Decline of Japan’s Intertidal Biota Near Site of the Fukushima Disaster →

British Columbia, Cesium, Iodine, North America, Peer Reviewed, Xenon

The Impact of the Fukushima on Canada: Health Canada Reports

4 Comments

By Jay T. Cullen

The purpose of this post is to bring to the attention of interested readers a recently released report that provides comprehensive account of the environmental radiation surveillance activities conducted by Health Canada in the months immediately following the Fukushima accident.  This report includes an assessment of the overall levels of contamination and resulting impacts to the health of Canadians.  Contrary to irresponsible and inaccurate rumors that Health Canada suspended monitoring in the wake of the triple meltdowns, monitoring activities were, in fact, enhanced and expanded to increase the flow of information and improve understanding of the implications of the contamination for environmental and public health.  While there was no discernible change in total background radiation a distributed system of monitoring stations and the rapid collection and measurement of environmental samples tracked the trace levels of atmospheric contamination across the country. The report concludes:

  1. conservative estimates of the maximum individual dose from Fukushima was less than 0.0003 (1/ 3,000) of the typical annual dose for a Canadian owing to natural background sources
  2. the additional dose resulting from Fukushima derived contamination is far less than the normal variation in dose from place to place in Canada
  3. there are likely to be no health impacts related to this small, incremental dose

Continue reading The Impact of the Fukushima on Canada: Health Canada Reports →

Algae, Biota, Cesium, Monitoring, NE Pacific

KelpWatch 2015 Monitoring: No Fukushima derived contamination May – June ’15

Leave a comment
Bull Kelp, or Nereocystis luetkeana
Bull Kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana)

By Jay T. Cullen

The purpose of this diary is to report the most recent results of Kelp Watch 2015, a program dedicated to monitoring for Fukushima derived contamination along the Pacific Coast of North America.  New results from the fourth sampling period (May 4 through June 10 2015)  were released on Dec. 8, 2015 and can be found here. As with previously reported results here, here, here and here no radioactive isotopes from Fukushima were detected in kelp growing at sampling sites along our Pacific coast.  The absence of 134Cs in kelp suggests that ocean transport of Fukushima contamination had yet to reach persistently high enough levels in North American coastal water to bioaccumulate in kelp. The scientific community expects that levels of contamination rise in coastal waters as predicted by measurements and models in the coming year Kelp Watch 2015 will help to track the arrival of the plume in time and space. Continue reading KelpWatch 2015 Monitoring: No Fukushima derived contamination May – June ’15 →

Cesium, Chernobyl, Fukushima, Humans, Japan, Peer Reviewed

External ionizing radiation doses of high school students in Japan, France, Poland and Belarus

Leave a comment

By Jay T. Cullen

Third-year science students H. Onodera and R. Suzuki, both 18, and second-year students M. Saito, Y. Fujiwara, both 17, and S. Anzai, 16 and their supervising teacher T. Hara, 57, took part in compiling the study.  They used citizen science deployed dosimeters to compare external radiation dose experience by students in different countries.
The purpose of this post to report on a peer-reviewed, open access study published in the Journal of Radiological Protection where high-school aged citizen scientists measured and compared the external ionizing radiation doses experienced by students in Japan, Belarus, France, and Poland. Adachi and colleagues equipped 216 high-school students in Japan (inside and outside Fukushima Prefecture), Belarus, France and Poland with an electronic dosimeter to estimate and compare annual external ionizing radiation doses in 2014.  The distribution of doses experienced in each region overlapped with each other indicating that personal external ionizing radiation exposure in Fukushima Prefecture and Belarus are within the range of annual doses from terrestrial background radiation in other locations.

Continue reading External ionizing radiation doses of high school students in Japan, France, Poland and Belarus →

Cesium, Iodine, Marine Life, North America

No Fukushima Contamination in 2015 Alaskan Fish

1 Comment

Alaska Department of Environmental ConservationThe Seattle Times is reporting no contamination in any of the 24 Alaskan salmon, halibut, pollock,  cod, or sablefish that were sampled from 4 different regions in 2015 for the Alaskan Department of Environmental Conservation.

Read the full article.

See the results from the Department of Environmental Conservation.

Presently, InFORM members at Health Canada are running the ~160 salmon samples from over 15 different major BC fisheries collected in 2015 and we will report the results as soon as they become available.