FAA, Airlines Monitor Japan Radiation Plume Over Pacific Ocean

[highplainsdem]

Source: Bloomberg

March 17, 2011, 2:40 PM EDT
By Jonathan Tirone, Sonja Elmquist and John Hughes


March 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. aviation regulators and airline meteorologists are monitoring the radiation plume drifting northeast from Japan’s damaged nuclear reactors to ensure it doesn’t threaten commercial jet routes.

The Federal Aviation Administration hasn’t decided whether any action is needed beyond tracking the cloud, a spokeswoman, Laura Brown, said today in a telephone interview. American Airlines and Delta Air Lines Inc. said their flights aren’t traveling close to any radioactive contamination.

“There’s no problem in avoiding anything that is currently there,” said Tim Smith, a spokesman for AMR Corp.’s American in Fort Worth, Texas. “We’re already flying in from west of this concern area anyway.”

The plume is heading over the Pacific Ocean and contains radioactive barium and cesium emitted from the damaged Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant, Austria’s Meteorological and Geophysics Center said on its website. Particles may start moving northwest if winds shift as expected, according to the data center.

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[crikkett]

1. infuriating

let's see the cloud, businessweek....