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Page added on April 14, 2014
Japan Fukushima Radiation Reaching West Coast
Concerns are being raised about the plumes of radiation released from the meltdown of Japan’s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear reactor during the tsunami that rocked the area in 2011. The radiation from Fukushima is floating through the Pacific Ocean from Japan and beginning to reach the west coast of America.
Ken Buesseler, a research scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, has constructed a program of citizen-scientists to test the waters for radiation along the west coast. The program encourages citizens with or without a science background to raise funds for a sample collection unit and to collect sea water from their area to send back to Woods Hole for testing.
The collection unit is a 19-litre plastic jug and a shipping container to protect the sample. So far, 22 sites from Costa Rica to Washington have raised funds to collect samples and another 27 are in the process.
Buesseler expects the levels of radiation from Cesium-134 and Cesium-137, the main radioactive isotopes reaching the west coast from Fukushima, to be far below the acceptable levels for safe drinking water, but fears without measurement the level of radiation coming from Japan would be impossible to confirm.
One concern in the Pacific is for large mammals, like Orca whales, which eat massive amounts of fish throughout the day that may be contaminated with radiation. Buesseler maintains, however, that danger to humans from contaminated fish should not be a concern as cesium is water-soluble and will disperse from the fish as they swim through the ocean.
US Federal agencies are not taking place in the ocean testing, either because the levels are expected to be so low it is not considered a priority, or because the responsibility falls between agencies. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is responsible for monitoring oceans and atmospheric changes, but do not test for radiation. The Department of Energy monitors radiation levels but not in the oceans.
Many reports have surfaced since the nuclear radiation was released from Fukushima that high levels of radiation were affecting sea life off the shores of America, but health officials have denied that radiation from Japan has caused any serious incursion across the Pacific.
Buesseler said that people are going to be afraid of any reports of radiation because it is something they cannot see, smell or taste, but they know it can cause cancer. As of yet, no evidence has been shown to suspect dangerous levels of cesium in the waters off of the US. Levels of radiation from Fukushima are actually lower and less dangerous than that sill lurking around the ocean from nuclear testing in the fifties, according to reports.
The most dangerous aspect still surrounding the Fukushima disaster is the makeshift tanks at the nuclear facility that were used to draw highly contaminated water out of the ocean. Evidence shows that some of the more hastily crafted holding tanks, containing about 300,000 tons of contaminated water, may be leaking back out into the ocean.
Scientists will continue to monitor the levels of radiation from the Fukushima disaster floating across the Pacific Ocean from Japan reaching the west coast of Central and Northern America, but for now health officials maintain that there is no imminent threat.
By Cody Long
22 Comments on "Japan Fukushima Radiation Reaching West Coast"
Makati1 on Mon, 14th Apr 2014 11:15 pm
And the beat goes on. How much radiation is too much? We shall see…
Kenz300 on Mon, 14th Apr 2014 11:17 pm
Nuclear Energy — the environmental cost is too high………
Nuclear Energy — Too dangerous and too costly……
bobinget on Mon, 14th Apr 2014 11:25 pm
Nuclear power… “Too cheap to meter”
How about bombing Iran? Fukushima times twenty.
SilentRunning on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 1:13 am
19 liters for a measurement? They must be expecting mighty low levels of radiation, if they want a sample that large.
If it was truly dangerous levels, you could detect it in in a shot glass sized sample.
DMyers on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 1:58 am
Makes it sound all very clean. Not to worry. Less than recommended drinking water, which was recently revised to accommodate this outcome.
Why did we ever have nuclear regulations in the first place? As Fukushima demonstrates, even in the worst case scenario, it ‘s not that bad at all!
bobinget on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 3:22 pm
DMyers, Not That Bad?
So Called ‘clean-up’ to go on for sixty years?
Replacement power generation coal burning having even longer, deeper effects on Climate Change, deaths’
one in eight deaths blamed on coal burning.
Here’s a new piece of news even the most ardent AGW
denier will accept in a flash: (I chose FOX ‘news’ but the same report in the Guardian)
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/04/15/pollution-from-asia-strengthening-storms-in-north-america-study-finds/
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/15/china-air-pollution-pacific-climate-us-national-academy-sciences
TemplarMyst on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 5:28 pm
Chernobyl was significantly worse than Fukushima in terms of radioactivity release.
The ecosystem at Chernobyl is the clearest indication the panic over Fukushima is ill-placed. Chernobyl is a vibrant, living, diverse biosphere today. And it’s all radioactive.
Apparently the wolves, beavers, eagles, and fish didn’t get the memo they’re supposed to be scared and riddled with cancer by now.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 5:38 pm
tell that to the two headed frog named peep
TemplarMyst on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 6:17 pm
Two headed frog? Aint’ run into polycephaly in all the research I’ve done on Chernobyl.
Though a two headed grey whale calf washed up on the shores of Baja California in January.
Naturally Fukushima is being blamed for that, along with melting starfish, mass ocean die-offs, dead sea lions, and pink salmon turning yellow.
None of which, by the way, are being reported right off the beach where the crippled reactors are at. That biome seems alarmingly normal for some reason.
Sigh. I guess there is just no way to point out if it was gonna be bad, it ought to be bad in Chernobyl. And it just doesn’t seem to be.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 6:30 pm
Maybe I saw peep on one of those kid shows I have to watch because they watch them so I watch them
TemplarMyst on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 6:37 pm
Gotcha. I’ll look around, but I haven’t run into anything like that so far. Chernobyl seems to be doing amazingly well.
Want nature to come roaring back? Just scare off the humans 😉
shortonoil on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 8:27 pm
“Gotcha. I’ll look around, but I haven’t run into anything like that so far. Chernobyl seems to be doing amazingly well.”
The photos I’ve seen of the Chernobyl research teams where wearing HAZ MAT suites , and respirators. They must be doing that because they think it is sooooo safe! Cut us a break, we aren’t that stupid.
TemplarMyst on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 9:25 pm
I understand the reactions. The crew that filmed Radioactive Wolves (available free on PBS) wore hazmat suits too.
The scientist tracking and cataloging the wolves, their pups, and their behaviors did not. The folks who have remained behind in their ancestral homelands also do not. The folks at the monastery portrayed in Pandora’s Promise (iTunes, Netflix) do not.
Quite obviously the wolves, eagles, beavers, bison, and other flora and fauna do not either. The catfish living in the retention pond next to the exploded reactor do not.
It’s been over 30 years now. If there were catastrophic consequences that is ample time for them to appear.
But I get it. Fear is a powerful motivator. How does one then try to overcome it? I’ve always believed with rational thought, analysis, and evidence.
I invite you to watch Radioactive Wolves. It’s free, and available on PBS.
I know I’m pushing against deeply held beliefs. 🙁
Davey on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 9:29 pm
Templar, I am sure it is not all rosy. I watched a documentary on the hbomb atolls. The big issue was uptake by the palms of radioactic cesium. Natives are not to eat coconuts.
chilyb on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 9:31 pm
I disagree that Chernobyl was significantly worse. Fukushima continues to release radiation into the environment on a daily basis. Let’s talk when they have the situation at Fukushima under control.
TemplarMyst on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 9:34 pm
I am not claiming rosy. What I am claiming is a need for a reassessment. The current paradigm is there is no safe level of radioactivity.
I suspect there is a threshold. Many others believe so too. Above the threshold and problems may arise. High enough above it and problems WILL arise.
Below it? The area around Chernobyl, and in multiple other locations where elevated levels of naturally occurring radioisotopes exist, argue there may not be a significant issue, if any issue at all.
TemplarMyst on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 9:36 pm
The radioactivity levels continuing to be discharged from Fukushima are actually quite low, much of it tritium.
Again, look to the biosphere in the area. Mass die-offs off the beach? Obvious mutations? Clearly indicated morphological issues?
Scientists are all over that area. The anomalies found are extremely small.
chilyb on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 9:58 pm
I have a hard time believing anything from Tepco or the Japanese government after they lied about the melt downs. Maybe that’s my problem.
TemplarMyst on Tue, 15th Apr 2014 10:09 pm
In full agreement the behavior of Tepco and the Japanese government have been extremely unhelpful.
This is not atypical, unfortunately. If my (and many others) assessment is correct this is yet another case where transparency would have benefitted all, not least of all Tepco and the Japanese government!
Kenz300 on Wed, 16th Apr 2014 12:34 pm
Inside Chernobyl (2012) – YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfulqRdDbsg
TemplarMyst on Wed, 16th Apr 2014 2:51 pm
Radioactive Wolves (PBS, 2011)
http://video.pbs.org/video/2157025070/
The YouTube video was quite good. I haven’t been able to find out the sourcing for the various vids of the children suffering the gross abnormalities. If you have those (that can actually be sourced to the radiation at Chernobyl, not to other sources like chemical and non-radiation birth defects) please let me know.
Quick notes on the YouTube video. At points outdoors where the Geiger counter is going off the charts, note there are living plants right at that point.
If the threshold hypothesis is accurate (it is still hotly debated), that would be consistent with it.
I still can’t tell from the resettler conversation whether he lost his relatives in the accident or they died later of largely natural causes.
The Chernolbyl Forum and the World Health Organization extensively documented the accident and aftermath. Might be worth looking into on your own, if one is interested.
Also, overall, there are no animals portrayed in the YouTube video. Radioactive Wolves delves into that extensively.
Perhaps I’m wrong. But perhaps there is a threshold. The trees and plants would seem to indicate that. Abandoned buildings, though poignant, don’t really help assess the current state of nature 🙁
I’m presenting an alternative view. You have to come to your own conclusions.
TemplarMyst on Wed, 16th Apr 2014 2:55 pm
P.S. Neither the videographer nor the guide are wearing hazmat suits.
One can actually take tours of Chernobyl. If one is so inclined.