The Tribune, Jan 5, 2017 and updated Jan 9, 2017 (emphasis added): UCUT study finds trace amounts of radiation in migratory salmon Columbia River –  In early December, a number of news agencies reported seaborne radiation from Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear plant was detected in the Pacific Ocean along on the West Coast. The plant… is feared to still be contaminating the ocean. The impact of the radiation in the Columbia River—and on migratory salmon that spend their developmental years in the Pacific—is still relatively unknown, but recent studies point to causes for concern. Last year, the Okanagan Nation Alliance found Cesium-134, the so-called fingerprint of Fukushima, in sockeye that had migrated up the Okanogan River to British Columbia. Now, a study by Upper Columbia United Tribes has found trace amounts of radiation in Columbia River sockeye as well as Chinook salmon, UCUT biologist Marc Gauthier said Tuesday to the Colville Business Council’s Natural Resource Committee… In the Columbia River salmon, UCUT found… trace amounts of strontium-90, which is another Fukushima radionuclide, according to Gauthier. “There’s some unknowns, some questions that this information raises,” said Gauthier.

Castanet (BC, Canada), Dec 23, 2016: A sockeye salmon containing trace amounts of a radioactive isotope from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster in Japan was found in Okanagan Lake. The discovery was made in the summer of 2015 by the Integrated Fukushima Ocean Radionuclide Monitoring network [InFORM]… The organization has found eight fish with detectable levels of “artificial isotopes from human activities”… In one of those eight fish, the one found in Okanagan Lake, researchers were able to detect the element Cesium-134… UPDATE: While [InFORM] reported the Cesium-134 containing sockeye was found in Okanagan Lake, the government data the report references shows that the sockeye samples were actually taken from the Okanagan River…

Statesman Journal, Dec 7, 2016: Fukushima radiation has reached U.S. shores — For the first time, seaborne radiation from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster has been detected on the West Coast… in seawater samples taken from Tillamook Bay and Gold Beach in Oregon, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution are reporting. Because of its short half-life, cesium-134 can only have come from Fukushima. Also for the first time, cesium-134 has been detected in a Canadian salmon, the Fukushima InFORM project, led by University of Victoria chemical oceanographer Jay Cullen, is reporting… The Oregon samples, marking the first time cesium-134 has been detected on U.S. shores, were taken in January and February of 2016… [InFORM] reported that a single sockeye salmon, sampled from Okanagan Lake in the summer of 2015, had tested positive for cesium-134… [There] is no significant risk to consumers, Cullen said… A recent InFORM analysis of [Woods Hole chemical oceanographer Ken] Buesseler’s data concluded that concentrations of cesium-137 have increased considerably in the central northeast Pacific, although they still are at levels that pose no concern. “It appears that the plume has spread throughout this vast area from Alaska to California,” the scientists wrote… Radiation levels have not yet peaked. “As the contamination plume progresses towards our coast we expect levels closer to shore to increase over the coming year,” Cullen said…

KBET, Dec 9, 2016: RADIOACTIVE ‘FUKUSHIMA FISH’ WEST COAST USA… RADIOACTIVE fish found off the United States has raised fears the country’s food chain is polluted – and the Fukushima nuclear disaster is being blamed. Highly toxic Cesium-134 – the “fingerprint” of Fukushima – was found in Tillamook Bay and Gold Beach, Oregon. The terrifying discovery was reported by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution… [R]adiation levels have not yet peaked as a toxic plume makes its way towards the United States.

CBS News (transcript excerpt), Dec 9, 2017: Officials are continuing to monitor the situation, saying the bulk of radiation from the Fukushima plant has not yet made its way across the Pacific.

Watch the CBS broadcast here

Published: January 10th, 2017 at 11:45 am ET By ENENews