10 March 2014

Fukushima radiation hitting the West Coast


Sam Frizell has a Time article about an almost-forgotten disaster, back again:
Researchers who are tracking the radiation released during Japan's Fukushima reactor disaster say low levels will hit the US in April, but added it shouldn't be enough to pose a threat to human beings, wildlife or the environment. Low levels of radiation will reach ocean waters along the West Coast next month, scientists said, as fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster drifts across the Pacific Ocean.
Radiation will be at levels low enough to leave humans and the environment unharmed, scientists predict, but there are calls for increased monitoring as Federal agencies currently do not sample Pacific Coast seawater for radiation.
A 9.0 magnitude earthquake in March of 2011 triggered a tsunami with waves as high as 133 feet off the coast of Japan, killing more than fifteen thousand people and injuring six thousand. The disaster cut off power to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant complex, causing meltdowns at three reactors and leaking contaminated water into the ocean.
Models show the contaminated water reaching north of Seattle first, then move down the West Coast, most likely in April, scientists said.
Rico says his father, the oceanographer, will be watching...

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