nuclear-news

Fukushima radiation in seafood chain – record level in rockfish

Record cesium levels measured in Fukushima rockfish, signaling radiation woes in food chain far from over in Japan, Part of: Nuclear meltdown in Japan Less than two months shy of the second anniversary of the devastating triple nuclear meltdown at Japan’s coastal Fukushima Daiichi plant, a fish containing more than 2,500 times Japan’s legal limit for radiation has been caught by the plant’s operator in waters near the wrecked facility. Bellona,  Charles Digges, 21/01-201

The ‘murasoi’ fish, similar to a rockfish – indicating an amount of cesium measuring 254,000 Becquerel per kilogram, or 2,540 times Japans limit for radiation in seafood – was caught at a port inside the plant by its owner, Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) Friday, according to AFP.

The utility also released a photo of the fish, caught near an unloading point north of the No. 1 through No. 4 reactors. No fishermen operate in the nuclear plant’s port.

Friday’s catch shatters the previous record for wildlife contamination as a result of radioactive contamination, which was was 25,800 Becquerel of cesium per kilogram found in two greenlings caught about 20 kilometers north of the plant in August 2012, the Asashi Shimbun newspaper reported.

Other countries are also increasingly distressed by the amount of irradiated marine life turning up near their coastlines along the Pacific Rim: Over the summer, Russia’s state English language television station RT reported concern over fish caught off its coast near Japan.

In May, a tuna contaminated by low levels of radiation was found near the California coast, Reuters reported……. http://www.bellona.org/articles/articles_2012/fukushima_rockfish

January 23, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Fukushima 2013, Japan, oceans