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Fukushima fish still contaminated from nuclear accident
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19980614
Levels of radioactive contamination in fish caught off the east coast of Japan remain raised, official data shows.
It is a sign that the Dai-ichi power plant continues to be a source of pollution more than a year after the nuclear accident.
About 40% of fish caught close to Fukushima itself are regarded as unfit for humans under Japanese regulations.
The respected US marine chemist Ken Buesseler has reviewed the data in this week's Science journal.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-25/fish-caught-in-fukushima-as-tainted-as-a-year-ago-study-says.html
Fish caught in waters off the coast of northern Japan, where an earthquake triggered a radiation leak at the Fukushima power plant, are still as contaminated today as a year ago, a study found.
Contamination levels were particularly high among species dwelling at the bottom of the ocean, as sinking radioactive materials tainted the seafood, the research showed. The findings, published today in the journal Science, suggest there is a continued source of radiation from the seafloor that will have a lasting impact, said Ken Buesseler, the study’s author.
“This means that even if these sources were to be shut off completely, the sediments would remain contaminated for decades to come,” said Buesseler, a senior scientist at Woods Hold Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
In waters off Fukushima, where there is a ban on fishing for bottom-dwelling species, 40 percent of fish are above the limit for human consumption based on Japanese regulatory limits, Buesseler said.
Fish caught in waters off the coast of northern Japan, where an earthquake triggered a radiation leak at the Fukushima power plant, are still as contaminated today as a year ago, a study found.
Contamination levels were particularly high among species dwelling at the bottom of the ocean, as sinking radioactive materials tainted the seafood, the research showed. The findings, published today in the journal Science, suggest there is a continued source of radiation from the seafloor that will have a lasting impact, said Ken Buesseler, the study’s author.
“This means that even if these sources were to be shut off completely, the sediments would remain contaminated for decades to come,” said Buesseler, a senior scientist at Woods Hold Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
In waters off Fukushima, where there is a ban on fishing for bottom-dwelling species, 40 percent of fish are above the limit for human consumption based on Japanese regulatory limits, Buesseler said.
