Study: 150,000 sq. kilometers of Pacific with Fukushima nuclear material — ‘Remarkable’ amount released in ocean
ENE News
Source: Biogeosciences Discuss., 10, 6377-6416, 2013
Date: April 3, 2013
[...] Recently, large quantities of radioactive materials were released to the atmosphere and coastal waters following a nuclear accident at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant (NPP), which increased 137Cs concentrations in coastal seawater off Fukushima up to eight orders of magnitude above the global fallout background [...]
[...] the measured 137Cs concentrations in surface waters ranged from 1.8mBq L−1 to 3500mBq L−1, up to 3500 times higher than the global fallout background, although the cruise track did not go closer than 30 km from the coast. […] The elevated 137Cs levels covered an area of around 150 000 km2 (south of 38°N and west of 147° E). [...]
The contribution of 137Cs, 129I and 3H released from the damaged Fukushima NPP to the sea has been remarkable, as it has considerably influenced their concentrations in surface seawater as well as in the water column of the NW Pacific Ocean. [...]
Full study here