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Small amount of Fukushima radiation detected in water off North Coast

Guy Kovner, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

More information about ocean monitoring for Fukushima radiation can be found at http://www.ourradioactiveocean.org/.

Trace amounts of radiation from the ruined Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan were found in water samples collected in the Pacific Ocean 100 miles due west of Eureka, a Massachusetts-based researcher reported.
The concentration of cesium-134, a radioactive isotope known to come from the earthquake-and-tsunami ravaged Fukushima plant, was just barely detectable by his equipment and far below a level that would pose a risk to human health or marine life, said Ken Buesseler, a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute marine chemist who has been monitoring North American coastal waters since January.

“We knew it was out there,” Buesseler said in a telephone interview Tuesday. “It’s good to be getting some numbers.”

Cesium in the sample collected in August offshore from Eureka was less than 2 becquerels per cubic meter, he said. The acceptable U.S. limit for cesium in drinking water is 7,400 becquerels.

“It wouldn’t stop me from swimming in it or from eating any local seafood,” Buesseler said.

Read more via Small amount of Fukushima radiation detected in water | The Press Democrat.