nuclear-news

Fish caught off Japan’s coast becoming MORE radioactive

 the most contaminated fish found yet off Fukushima were caught in August, some 17 months after the disaster. The two greenlings, which are bottom-feeders, had cesium levels of more than 25,000 becquerels per kilogram, 250 times the level the government considers safe. 

Radiation levels in fish off Japan not declining since nuclear disaster Anchorage Daily News,  October 25, 2012  By MALCOLM FOSTER — Associated Press TOKYO — Radioactive cesium levels in most kinds of fish caught off the coast of Fukushima haven’t declined in the year following Japan’s nuclear disaster, a signal that the seafloor or leakage from the damaged reactors must be continuing to contaminate the waters – possibly threatening fisheries for decades, a researcher says.

Though the vast majority of fish tested off Japan’s northeast coast
remain below recently tightened limits of cesium-134 and cesium-137 in
food consumption, Japanese government data shows that 40 percent of
bottom-dwelling fish such as cod, flounder and halibut are above the
limit, Ken Buesseler, a marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution in Massachusetts, wrote in an article published Thursday
in the journal Science.

In analyzing extensive data collected by Japan’s Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, he found that the levels of
contamination in almost all kinds of fish are not declining a year
after the March 11, 2011 disaster. An earthquake and tsunami knocked
out the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant’s vital cooling system, causing three
reactor cores to melt and spew radiation onto the surrounding
countryside and ocean.

“The (radioactivity) numbers aren’t going down. Oceans usually cause
the concentrations to decrease if the spigot is turned off,” Buesseler
told The Associated Press in an interview. “There has to be somewhere
they’re picking up the cesium.”

“Option one is the seafloor is the source of the continued
contamination. The other source could be the reactors themselves,” he
said.

The safety of fish and other foods from around Fukushima remains a
concern among ordinary Japanese, among the world’s highest per capita
consumers of seafood.

Most fish and seafood from along the Fukushima coast are barred from
the domestic market and export. In June, authorities lifted bans on
octopus and sea snails caught off Fukushima after testing showed very
low levels of radiation.

But the most contaminated fish found yet off Fukushima were caught in August, some 17 months after the disaster. The two greenlings, which are bottom-feeders, had cesium levels of more than 25,000 becquerels per kilogram, 250 times the level the government considers safe. http://www.adn.com/2012/10/25/2671805/cesium-in-fish-off-fukushima-not.html#storylink=cpy

October 26, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, oceans