So far, so good. The raw data from the scientists is in.
From http://fukushimainform.ca.
Coastal monitoring: Results from 26 samples, mostly collected in September and October, did not find any of the Fukushima fingerprint isotope, 134Cs (2 year half-life), in the coastal waters. Low levels of 137Cs (~30 year half-life) were present in all of the samples. Also, some of the new results were from June-August, filling in some gaps that are related to calibration of the new spectrometer. No 134Cs was detected in samples returned for that interval.
The maximum allowable concentration of radiocesium in Canadian drinking water is 10,000 Bq m-3. The levels being detected in our citizen science samples are thousands of times lower and are not a risk to the health of the marine ecosystem or the public.
From the Vancouver Sun story:
Nearly five years after a massive earthquake resulted in the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, researchers in B.C. have found no detectable levels of contamination in fish along the West Coast. Contamination in fish had been expected to increase, as levels for radioisotopes cesium-134 and 137 are getting higher in offshore sea water, according to Jay Cullen, a chemical oceanographer at the University of Victoria. But models showing how ocean circulation will carry that contamination suggest there is little reason for concern in B.C. “While we expect the contamination in fish to increase … we don’t expect those levels to approach levels that will be a danger to human health,” Cullen said. Those projected contamination levels won’t be harmful to the fish, either, he added. Bethany Lindsay reports. (Vancouver Sun)
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: fukushima, Ocean Pollution, Puget Sound |
