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Sampling the Pacific for Signs of Fukushima

By Guest PostApril 6, 2012Environmentcesium 134, chiba peninsula, coast of japan, earthquake, fukushima, fukushima dai ichi, gulf stream, hawaii, irina rypina, Japan, ken buesseler, kuroshio, marine ecosystem, marine environment, marine organism, nicholas fisher, nuclear power plant, ocean, ocean current, oyashio, plankton, potassium 40, radiation, radioactive isotope, radioactive substance, radioactivity, radionuclides, reactor, seafloor sediment, steven jayne, tsunami, whoi

An international research team is reporting the results of a research cruise they organized to study the amount, spread, and impacts of radiation released into the ocean from the tsunami-crippled reactors in Fukushima, Japan. The group of 17 researchers and technicians from eight institutions spent 15 days at sea in June 2011 studying ocean currents, and sampling water and marine organisms up to the edge of the exclusion zone around the reactors.

Led by Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist and marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the team found that the concentration of several key radioactive substances, or radionuclides, were elevated but varied widely across the study area, reflecting the complex nature of the marine environment. In addition, although levels of radioactivity in marine life sampled during the cruise were well below levels of concern for humans and the organisms themselves, the researchers leave open the question of whether radioactive materials are accumulating on the seafloor sediments and, if so, whether these might pose a long-term threat to the marine ecosystem. The results appear in the April 2 online edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). (more…)

Researchers Assess Radioactivity Released to the Ocean from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Facility

By Guest PostDecember 7, 2011Environmentbaltic and black seas, cesium 134, cesium 137, chernobyl accident, coastal waters, contamination, fate of radioactivity, fukushima dai ichi nuclear power plants, fukushima nuclear power plants, groundwater, history of contaminant, iodine 131, isotope, japan agency for marine earth science and technology, ken buesseler, levels of radioactivity, limnology, march 11 earthquake, marine biota, marine life, marine sediments, masao fukasawa, meteorological research institute, mext, michio aoyama, northwest coast of japan, ocean, ocean mixing processes, plants, radioactive leaks, radioactivity, radioactivity from fukushima, radionuclides, reactor facility, salt lake city, salt water basins, tepco, tsunami, woods hole oceanographic institution

With news this week of additional radioactive leaks from Fukushima nuclear power plants, the impact on the ocean of releases of radioactivity from the plants remains unclear. But a new study by U.S. and Japanese researchers analyzes the levels of radioactivity discharged from the facility in the first four months after the accident and draws some basic conclusions about the history of contaminant releases to the ocean.

The study, conducted by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution chemist Ken Buesseler and two Japanese colleagues, Michio Aoyama of the Meteorological Research Institute and Masao Fukasawa of the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, reports that discharges from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plants peaked one month after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that precipitated the nuclear accident, and continue through at least July. Their study finds the levels of radioactivity, while quite elevated, are not a direct exposure threat to humans or marine life, but cautions that the impact of accumulated radionuclides in marine sediments is poorly known. (more…)

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Sampling the Pacific for Signs of Fukushima

Researchers Assess Radioactivity Released to the Ocean from the Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Facility