China continues research on Fukushima radiation in Pacific Ocean
China conducts second radiation monitor in Pacific Ocean By Yu Jianbin (People’s Daily Overseas Edition), December 29, 2011 Edited and translated by People’s Daily Online A marine monitoring team dispatched by China’s State Oceanic Administration accomplished the mission of monitoring radiation in the western Pacific Ocean for the second time, and returned to Xiamen on Dec. 27 aboard the Xiangyanghong 09 scientific exploration ship.
The monitoring team sailed about 6,100 nautical miles in 30 days, and monitored radiation in the air over and water in the western Pacific Ocean as well as radiation-sensitive sea creatures, chemistry and dynamic environments.
This is the second time that China has monitored radiation in international waters in the western Pacific Ocean.
The aim of the mission is to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster on the western Pacific Ocean and China’s marine environment, and to help build a western Pacific marine environmental monitoring and early warning system.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/202936/7691886.html
Radiation study on muttonbirds in the Pacific
Muttonbirds in radiation study Stuff.co.nz MICHAEL DALY, 22 Dec 11, New Zealand muttonbirds are being studied to see if they were affected by radiation from Japan’s damaged
nuclear power plant.
Samples are being taken from the birds as part of the research into the effects of radiation from the Fukushima plant, …. The research aims to determine the degree to which the mutton bird population was exposed to radiation.
Experts have said the Fukushima disaster was responsible for the largest single release of radioactivity into the ocean, threatening wildlife and fisheries in the region.
Millions of the birds, known as sooty shearwaters, come to this country to breed during the summer months before heading north during the colder southern months….Adams said it was planned to take tissue samples from birds in this country in late March or early April.
Sooty shearwaters had been chosen for the research mainly because they were one of the most abundant seabirds in the Pacific…. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6179864/Muttonbirds-in-radiation-study
Many thousands of tons of radioactive water accumulating at Fukushima
Tepco estimates that the amount of treated water requiring storage is increasing by 200 to 500 tons every day.
Japan’s earthquake-hit nuclear plant scraps plan to dump water in sea, Reuters Tokyo December 12, 2011 Japan’s utility operating the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant said on Friday it has scrapped a plan to dump water it treated for radiation contamination into the sea following fierce protests from fishing groups. Continue reading
Radioactive strontium one million times over limit into ocean from Fukushima
“The source of the beta radiation in the water is likely to include strontium 90, which if 
absorbed in the body through eating tainted seaweed or fish, accumulates in bone and can cause cancer,”
Fukushima floods into Pacific Ocean, Strontium becomes One Million Times over Limit, The Canadian, 07 DECEMBER 2011 The woes of Fukushima are far from over as the plant’s owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), announced recently that a purification mechanism has leaked at least 45 tons of highly radioactive water, some of which ended up flowing directly into the ocean. TEPCO officials are reportedly in the process of investigating the situation to determine the extent of the damage caused. Continue reading
Japan’s growing problem of radioactive water – to be dumped into ocean?
TEPCO mulls nuclear-contaminated water Sky News, December 8, 2011 Japan’s embattled Tokyo Electric Power Co says it is considering dumping more nuclear-contaminated water from the Fukushima power plant into the sea. If TEPCO goes ahead with the plan it would be the second time it has deliberately released radiation-tainted water into the ocean since reactors began melting down at Fukushima in the wake of the March 11 tsunami.
‘We have stored processed water in tanks, which are expected to become full by March next year,’ said a TEPCO spokesman on Thursday. He said no final details – such as when, how much, or how dirty the water would be – have been established, but stressed the water would be filtered to reduce levels of radioactivity before it was dumped.
Thousands of tonnes of water have been pumped into reactors at Fukushima in an effort to cool the molten nuclear fuel and bring the plant to a safe shutdown.
‘We are studying a variety of measures to cope with it,’ he said, including the possibility of building more storage tanks. ’The company has consulted with the Japan Fisheries (JF) Cooperatives about the possibility of a water release.’ A group of fishermen immediately lodged a protest with TEPCO and the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry on Thursday, demanding the plan be shelved.
‘Many local fishermen still cannot go out to sea due to regulations or voluntary decisions and the now-poor safety reputation of the area has scared off consumers,’ JF official Shinji Ogawa told AFP. ’We cannot possibly let TEPCO do this again.’ Within weeks of the world’s worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl, TEPCO dumped more than 10,000 tons of low-level radioactive water into the Pacific.
Ogawa said the water release plan was outrageous, especially after the power company had to apologise this week for accidentally leaking highly radioactive waste water into the Pacific….. TEPCO said Monday that it believed 150 litres of waste water including highly harmful strontium, a substance linked to bone cancers, has found its way into the open ocean. … http://www.skynews.com.au/finance/article.aspx?id=694474&vId=
Long range threat of Fukushima radiation accumulating on ocean floor
the releases have not ended, so that is of concern. If the contaminants end up in the marine sediments/muds, then they will remain there for decades to come,
Fukushima ocean radiation could pose sleeper threat, Smart Planet, By David Worthington | December 7, 2011 Scientists have determined that the unprecedented release of radioactivity into the Pacific Ocean from the Fukushima nuclear disaster poses no direct exposure threat to people, but caution that the accumulated fallout lying in sediment is a potential danger for decades to come.
The findings were published in a report, Impacts of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants on Marine Radioactivity, on Wednesday. Levels of cesium and iodine peaked in April, a month after the core meltdowns when seawater used to cool the reactors and spent fuel rods was pumped out of the facility into the nearby ocean.
Levels of radioactive cesium peaked at 50 million times normal levels, becoming the largest accidental release of radiation into the ocean in history, Continue reading
Fukushima radioactive fallout circling around the world’s oceans
Fukushima nuclear fallout spread through oceans, researchers say, :Herald Sun, AFP, November 17, 2011 MOST of the radioactive fallout from the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant dropped into the ocean and began circling the planet, Japanese researchers say. Continue reading
Fukushima’s radiation pollution of the Pacific ocean
Fukushima’s nuclear pollution of Pacific the world’s greatest: nuclear monitor, The Vancouver Sun, Agence France-Presse October 27, 2011 The IRSN cites deep-water fish, fish at the top of the marine food chain and molluscs and other filtrating organisms as “the species that are the most sensitive” to caesium pollution.
PARIS – France’s nuclear monitor said on Thursday that the amount of caesium 137 that leaked into the Pacific from the Fukushima disaster was the greatest single nuclear contamination of the sea ever seen….. Continue reading
Radioactivity to move up food chain from plankton near Fukushima
Radioactive plankton found near Fukushima plant, ABC News, By North Asia correspondent Mark Willacy, October 15, 2011 Researchers say high concentrations of radioactive caesium have been detected in plankton in the Pacific Ocean off the shattered Fukushima nuclear plant.
The Fukushima nuclear plant was badly damaged in the March earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan, and has been leaking radiation ever since.
It is feared more radiation could now enter the food chain.
Researchers from Tokyo University collected plankton from the sea south of the Fukushima nuclear plant, discovering nearly 700 becquerels per kilogram of caesium in plankton close to the shore.
Research leader professor Takashi Ishimaru told Japan’s NHK network sea currents had carried contaminated water south from the nuclear plant, heavily contaminating the plankton. A wide range of fish and other marine species feed on the plankton, leading to fears it could have a serious impact on the food chain. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-10-15/radioactive-plankton-found-near-fukushima/3573076?section=world
Radioactive contamination of ocean continues from Fukushima
the Fukushima disaster appeared to be by far the largest accidental release of radioactive material into the sea…..
The working hypothesis is that contaminated sediments and groundwater near the coast are continuing to contaminate the seas, …
fuller understanding of the effect on fish that are commercially harvested will probably take several years of data following several feeding cycles,
Fukushima’s Contamination Produces Some Surprises at Sea, NYT, By DAVID JOLLY, September 28, 2011, Six months after the accident at Fukushima Daiichi, the news flow from the stricken nuclear power plant has slowed, but scientific studies of radioactive material in the ocean are just beginning to bear fruit.
The word from the land is bad enough. ….
Off the coast, the early results indicate that very large amounts of radioactive materials were released, and may still be leaking, and that rather than being spread through the whole ocean, currents are keeping a lot of the material concentrated. Continue reading
Radiation lingering in sea near Fukushima
much of the radioactive material will still be sinking down to the seabed and being absorbed by marine life
Fukushima’s radioactive sea contamination lingers, New Scientist September 2011 by Andy Coghlan Levels of radiation in the sea off the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant remain stubbornly high six months after the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan on 11 March.
After levels peaked at around 100,000 becquerels per cubic metre of seawater in early April, much of the radioactive iodine, caesium and plutonium from Fukushima was expected to rapidly disperse in the Pacific Ocean. Continue reading
Dounreay nuclear plant’s radioactive pollution of Scotland’s North coast seabed
“Once again, we see the nuclear industry causing a problem it can’t solve, and dumping the cost and consequence on the rest of us,”
Scottish nuclear fuel leak ‘will never be completely cleaned up’ The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has abandoned its aim to remove all traces of contamination from the north coast seabed Rob Edwards guardian.co.uk, 21 September 2011 Radioactive contamination that leaked for more than two decades from the Dounreay nuclear plant on the north coast of Scotland will never be completely cleaned up, a Scottish government agency has admitted. Continue reading
Fukushima radiation into sea at least 3 times greater than previously estimated
Sea radiation ‘3 times higher than thought’, The Yomiuri Shimbun, 10 Sept 11, The total amount of radioactive substances released into the sea as a result of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant is believed to have been three times the initial estimate by the plant’s operator, according to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency.
A team led by senior researcher Takuya Kobayashi estimated the actual quantity at 15,000 terabecquerels, including substances in polluted water and substances released into the air that eventually fell into the sea. Tera means one trillion.
The figure is more than triple the estimate by Tokyo Electric Power Co. Also, the new estimate does not include cesium-134, meaning the actual total could be even larger. The research team will announce its findings at a conference of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan scheduled to start in Kitakyushu on Sept. 19….. http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T110909005415.htm
China finding excessive radiation levels in seafoods east of Fukushima
Excessive Radiation Found in Sea Organisms Near Japan’s Nuke Plant 2011-08-24 Xinhua Web Editor: Guo Biological samples taken from waters in the Western Pacific region east of Fukushima, Japan show excessive radiation levels, said a statement from China’s State Oceanic Administration on Wednesday.The samples were also found to contain argentum-110m and cesium-134, which are normally difficult to detect in biological samples from China’s coastal waters, the statement said. Continue reading
Danger to migratory fish, of Fukushima radiation in ocean
Japan’s Fukushima catastrophe brings big radiation spikes to B.C. | Vancouver, Canada | Straight.com, By Alex Roslin, August 4, 2011 “……..TEPCO released 11,500 tons of radioactive water from its storage tanks into the Pacific Ocean on April 4. One aspect of the fallout and seawater contamination that remains unclear is how it might affect fish stocks, especially migratory species like salmon that could pass through poisoned areas of the ocean, eat irradiated prey, or have radioactive water dumped in their home ranges by Pacific currents.
Of the five species of Pacific salmon that are native to western North America, the sockeye is the most commercially prized. It also has the most wide-ranging migration route through the North Pacific, swimming for two to three years—as far as just northeast of the top of Japan—before coming back to its natal streams in Alaska, B.C., and the U.S. Northwest…..”
Japan’s Fukushima catastrophe brings big radiation spikes to B.C. | Vancouver, Canada | Straight.com
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