Interview with Ian Jessop on CFAX 1070 AM Radio in Victoria about newly published offshore monitoring data from InFORM and our partner project Our Radioactive Ocean. Interview begins at the 33:50 mark of the Soundcloud file below.
Tag Archives: 134-Cs
Update: Tracking the arrival of Fukushima derived contamination in the Pacific off North America
By Jay T. Cullen
Previously unpublished data results from research expeditions in 2014 and 2015 are summarized here. Overall the data indicate that:
- Fukushima derived radiocesium was first detected 1500 km west of British Columbia Canada in June 2012
- Contamination was detected on the continental shelf (near coastal waters) in June 2013
- By February 2014 Fukushima radiocesium was present at levels similar to preexisting weapons testing derived 137Cs
- The timing of the arrival and levels of radiocesium in the contaminated plume are in reasonable agreement with existing ocean circulation model predictions
- 134Cs, a unique indicator of Fukushima impact given its ~ 2 year half life, increased in 2014 and 2015 relative to previous years indicating that peak concentrations are likely to arrive in 2016
- Maximum combined radiocesium activities (137Cs + 134Cs) offshore as of summer 2015 are 11 Bq m-3 of seawater are about 8-10 fold less than maximum activities measured in the 1960’s due to weapons testing fallout. Current levels do not represent a significant risk to ecosystem or public health
No Fukushima Contamination in 2015 Alaskan Fish
The 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.
Contamination of freshwater fish by the Fukushima Nuclear Accident: Overview of monitoring results
By Jay T. Cullen
The purpose of this post is to report the results of a monitoring study looking for Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) derived contamination in freshwater fishes in Japan. The peer reviewed study by Wada and colleagues was recently published in Journal of Environmental Radioactivity which is unfortunately behind a publisher paywall. This post continues a series of posts aimed at communicating the results of scientific investigations of the impact of the FDNPP disaster on public and environmental health. Wada and colleagues measured the amount of 131-Iodine (131I half life ~ 8 days), 134-Cesium (134Cs half life ~2 years), and 137-Cesium (137Cs half life ~30 years) in freshwater fish species collected from rivers, lakes and aquaculture ponds in Fukushima Prefecture between March 2011 and December 2014. A total of 16 species and 2692 individual fish were examined. Between March and June 2011 11 fish were found to have detectable but low activities of 131I (<25 Bq kg-1 wet weight) suggesting that radioactive iodine did not accumulate significantly in fish. Continue reading Contamination of freshwater fish by the Fukushima Nuclear Accident: Overview of monitoring results
Impact of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster on Marine Animals Along the Coast of Japan
By Jay T. Cullen
The purpose of this diary is to share the results of a recently published, peer reviewed, study that examined the radiological impact of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) meltdowns on invertebrates living in coastal waters close to the disaster site in Japan. The paper by Sohtome and colleagues measured the activity of artificial radionuclides 134-Cesium (134Cs half life ~ 2 years) and 137-Cesium (137Cs half life ~ 30 years) in 592 specimens representing 46 different taxonomic families collected in coastal waters in Fukushima Prefecture between July 2011 and August 2013. The authors found 137Cs in 77% of the samples with highest activities in the organisms near to or south of the FDNPP where highest levels in seawater and marine sediments were found after the large initial releases in 2011. Levels of 137Cs decreased exponentially with time with differences between the various taxonomic groups. Continue reading Impact of the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster on Marine Animals Along the Coast of Japan
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