Expert: “Can’t be changed & can’t be stopped”; Radioactive Fukushima water will continually enter ocean — Significant ‘discreet leaks’ recently — West Coast “should be alarmed” at lack of testing—Levels rising for 2 years & expected to increase
ENENews
The concern now is that the plume of radioactive isotopes is set to finally reach Central Coast waters but there are no agencies to measure them. [...]
Q: Has there been a significant radiation leakage event from Fukushima in the last three weeks?
Dr. Ken Buesseler oceanographer and scientist on ocean radiation from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute: Over the summer, there were a couple of discreet leaks but what we’re expecting to detect off the West Coast is from 2011 [...] We have cesium already in the Pacific Ocean [...] the question is how quickly will that go up? How high will that go up? The predictions are rather low and are not of direct concern, but no one makes measurements of these isotopes along that coast. [...] No one is measuring so therefore we should be alarmed. [...]
Q: So we shouldn’t be concerned about the fish we eat from the Pacific Ocean?
Buesseler: Right now, from what I’ve seen there are no levels of concern and that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be looking for that. The story has been changing for these two years from a large release of cesium isotopes to a potential release of strontium 90 [...] one lesson that is very clear here is that there is a connection about what’s happening on land with the groundwater near Fukushima and the ocean and that harbor. There is a direct exchange that can’t be changed and can’t be stopped.[...]
Q: What would you tell the public right now, is there a concern for our health given the Fukushima fallout?
Buesseler: With current conditions I’d say go swimming, go boating and eat the fish in the Pacific Ocean. I don’t have concerns. But they still need to be monitored. They’ve been going up for two years now. We’re expecting these levels to increase, but I’m also concerned there’s not support to do these types of analyses [...]
Published: January 24th, 2014 at 8:55 pm ET
By ENENews |