WILL RADIATION-CONTAMINATED SEAWATER REACH THE UNITED STATES?

Looking at the statistics for this blog, I notice that quite a few people in the United States have been searching about radiation in food, including in fish. I don't think they are just worried about imported fish from Japan (although some people are certainly avoiding that). They are also wondering whether radiation in the sea near the crippled Fukushima power plant will reach U.S. waters and contaminate the fish here.

Japanese officials have now raised the severity of the Fukushima disaster to that of Chernobyl - a level 7. But, in terms of its impact on oceans, the effect is actually greater. Certain radionuclides have been found at higher levels in the Pacific than they were after Chernobyl in the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea. They got into the Pacific not only from the hundreds of thousands of tons of very radioactive water discharged into the ocean, but also from the air. So where does all this water go? To answer that question, I did a bit of searching to see what the oceanographers are predicting.

Yes, it does seem that the main currents from the Fukushima area of Japan move across the Pacific towards the west coast of the United States. I think they are the Kuroshio and the Oyashio, which converge (see NASA photo taken 100 miles north of the Fukushima plant). The contaminated seawater is expected to reach Hawaii in about a year and get as far as California in two to three years. It takes a while.

In the meantime, it will get more and more diluted. So it seems that Americans - including people here in California - shouldn't be too worried.

Let's just stick to focusing more on our home-grown toxins in seafood , such as those found the the San Francisco Bay and Santa Monica Bay of California - PCBs, DDT, dieldrin, chlordane and dioxins. And, any that our own nuclear plants discharge into the environment.

To your good health!

TSF

IS FUKUSHIMA FOOD CONTAMINATION OVER?

The Fukushima power plant disaster hasn't been as much in the news during the last few days, at least not in the U.S. Nor have we heard much about the dangers of nuclear waste in the food supply. Does that mean an "all clear" signal. Is it over? No more need to worry?

Unfortunately not. I have just finished listening to a video recording of a speech by the well-known Australian anti-nuclear activist, Dr. Helen Caldicott. Frankly, it was very frightening. She views Fukushima as being worse than Chernobyl. I hope that isn't true.

The good news is that Tokyo Electric Power Company has finally outlined an ambitious plan for bringing the damaged and leaking reactors to what is called " cold shutdown" (the repairs haven't worked). The bad news is that in the meantime, radioactive emissions from the plant will continue for at least three or more months while this is taking place (and hopefully, will work, but nothing is for sure). They will continue to enter the air, the ocean, lakes and rivers, and seep into the soil.

This is not good news for any food grown in areas where such radiation is spreading (and the experience of Chernobyl shows that it can spread over a very wide area as time goes by). This applies to leafy greens, root vegetables, rice, other grains, milk, meat, fish, shellfish - just about anything. Unfortunately, contaminants can become increasingly concentrated in water and soil - and in food. We will hear much more, as testing is done and results are released to the public.

TSF