Radiation from Japan nuclear disaster spreads off U.S. shores

[n2doc]

By Courtney Sherwood
PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) – Radiation from Japan’s 2011 nuclear disaster has spread off North American shores and contamination is increasing at previously identified sites, although levels are still too low to threaten human or ocean life, scientists said on Thursday.

Tests of hundreds of samples of Pacific Ocean water confirmed that Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant continues to leak radioactive isotopes more than four years after its meltdown, said Ken Buesseler, marine radiochemist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Trace amounts of cesium-134 have been detected within several hundred miles (km) of the Oregon, Washington and California coasts in recent months, as well as offshore from Canada’s Vancouver Island.

Another isotope, cesium-137, a radioactive legacy of nuclear weapons tests conducted from the 1950s through the 1970s, was found at low levels in nearly every seawater sample tested by Woods Hole, a nonprofit research institution.

Read more at http://newsdaily.com/2015/12/radiation-from-japan-nuclear-disaster-spreads-off-u-s-shores/

[FlatBaroque]

1. The irradiated water has crossed the ocean

let that sink in. What havoc has it wreaked on its crossing?

[truedelphi]

2. Like Timbuk3 used to sing:

"The future is so bright, you have to wear shades"

&list=RD8qrriKcwvlY

And remember every Corporatist President in the last forty five years has loved nuclear derived fuel sources.

[cui bono]

3. I've still got a bunch of frozen salmon I stocked up on when Fukushima got hit.

Glad I did that.



.

[The Wizard]

4. pre cooked Pacific seafood. (NT)

[phantom power]

5. There will be no measurable health impact from this.

However, nobody will care, and will continue to report the detection of radioactive atoms from Fukushima as if it were dangerous.

[bvar22]

14. ALL radiation is cumulative,

and ALL radiation is dangerous. Why do you think the doctors leave the room and hide behind a lead shield to take an X-Ray?
ANY increase to the background radiation of our planet (like Fukushima) is DANGEROUS.

I've read the Industry propaganda where they say that the exposure is no worse than you would get with two dental X-Rays..... , but I've already had 3 this year, not to mention a full back X-Ray.
When should I start worrying about the accumulated radiation I'm carrying around?

Nobody can (or will) answer these questions.

I WILL add two irrefutable statements:
1) Human Activity IS adding to our environmental radiation.

AND

2) As long as we keep using Nukes,
Fukushima WILL happen again,
and again,...and again.
Man has never created a fail proof machine.

[ConservativeDemocrat]

6. Hilarious!

I went to the fellow's site, and he's completely upfront about it. Off the US pacific coast, Cs134 is completely below detection, and he's measuring Cs137 of 2.3 Bq +/- 0.2 Bq/m3 of ocean water. That's 2.3Bq/per 1000 kg!

Wow that's low. For comparison, the human body contains about 70Bq/kg (not 1000 kg) of natural radiation, mostly potassium-40 (naturally found in bananas), or about 30437 times higher.

But, hell, bring out the anti-science, anti-vax, anti-nuclear-power hard left over this one. The Democrat's equivalent of young-earth creationists. I'm sure they'll have lots to say about how we're doomed, doomed! (not even understanding that coal plants spew out tons more radiation on the planet than nuclear plants ever do).

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[NNadir]

7. It is remarkable how abysmal our level of scientific knowledge in this country is...

...that such nonsense even gets reported.

The National Lampoon had better science; Mad Magazine has better science.

It would be really, really, really, really, really interesting is there were some examples of the fools who report this garbage were interested in the PAH's that continuously flow across the Pacific ocean from Asian coal plants, or for that matter, PAH's drifting across New Jersey from Indiana and Ohio coal plants.

PAH's kill people. The air pollution of which PAH's are a constituent kills 7 million people every year.

A few radioactive atoms decaying in tons of seawater, um, won't. It would really, really, really, really, really interesting if the reporter knew that the ocean contains something on the order of 500 billion curies of potassium-40, but one thing we're learning in this generation is that you can't graduate from a journalism school if you've passed a science course.

With ignorance like this flying around, we definitely deserve what we are going to get.

[Orrex]

8. A massive nitrogen build-up was also reported

At times reaching concentrations of more than 750,000 parts per million!

[Lucky Luciano]

9. Zomg!! What happened to the other 40000 parts per million?!?

Last edited Fri Dec 4, 2015, 12:27 AM - Edit history (1)

[Orrex]

10. THIS IS NO TIME FOR DETAILS!!!!!!1!

[longship]

11. Great thread! But what about the sea stars?

And I heard today on DU, the Florida orange groves!!!!

[SoLeftIAmRight]

13. yes

The report is Duke Energy Florida's Annual Radiological Environmental Operating Report to U.S. NRC, dated May 5. It notes that immediately following the Fukushima disaster, radioactive iodine and cesium from the plant were detected in Florida vegetation.

"The Japanese event also affected broad leaf vegetation sample media throughout the year as long-lived radionuclides (Cs-137) were released at Fukushima multiple times," the report reads.

"The vegetation measurements in 2014 are still affected by the Fukushima event due to the long-lived radionuclides deposited. The vegetation control sample station located in Orlando, Fl. is also experiencing similar Cs-137 deposition on the broad leaf sample media."

[avaistheone1]

12. k&r

[artislife]

15. Why I eat nothing from the ocean

Pacific..Gulf. .North Atlantic. .all polluted with one thing or another.

[NickB79]

16. This is DU's version of the RW's fear of Syrian-ISIS-terrorist-refugees-OMG!

After 4 years, we finally detect an amount of radiation just a hair above detectable levels, and so low it is virtually impossible to have health impacts. It's a non-threat anywhere outside of the exclusion zone around Fukushima.