Gold Beach, Ore. – Seaborne radiation from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster has reached the West Coast of the United States for the first time.
The Statesman Journal reports Cesium-134 was measured in seawater samples taken from Gold Beach and Tillamook Bay in Oregon.
Because of its short half-life, cesium-134 can only have originated from Fukushima, and has been called the “fingerprint of Fukushima.”
According to the Fukushima InFORM project, let by University of Victoria chemical oceanographer Jay Cullen, cesium-134 has also been detected in a Canadian salmon.
Scientists say in both cases, levels were extremely low and don’t pose a danger to humans or the environment.
In March 2011, massive amounts of contaminated water were released from the nuclear plant after a 9.0 earthquake and devastating tsunami.
The Oregon samples were taken in January and February of 2016 and later analyzed. They each measured 0.3 becquerels per cubic meter of cesium-13.
Read more: http://stjr.nl/2gGvLes
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