![‘The amount of radioactivity from these isotopes from Fukushima in our water or in our fish [is] a fraction of the count you’d get using a Geiger counter,’ University of Victoria’s Dr. Jay Cullen said. (John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail)](https://i0.wp.com/static.theglobeandmail.ca/7cd/news/british-columbia/article28846577.ece/ALTERNATES/w620/bc-radiation22nw1.JPG)
The Globe and Mail
Published 23 Feb 2016
Five years after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, radioactive contaminants continue to circulate across the Pacific to Canada’s West Coast, but not at dangerous levels.
Continue reading Radiation from Fukushima nuclear disaster not found in B.C. salmon
By Jay T. Cullen
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:
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.
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
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