WOODS HOLE — Sloshing with Japanese sea water, the 5-gallon plastic jugs crowding Ken Buesseler's laboratory at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution contain evidence of an ongoing nuclear crisis.
Collecting samples off the coast where the Fukushima nuclear power plant was damaged in a March 2011 earthquake, the WHOI senior scientist measured higher than normal radiation levels long after the original disaster.
OFF THE CHARTS
The Fukushima disaster resulted in an unprecedented release of radioisotopes to the ocean, according to the spring edition of Oceanus, a Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution publication. It says the amount of cesium-137 isotopes in surface ocean waters off Fukushima was 10,000 to 100,000 times greater than amounts entering the ocean after Chernobyl or from atmospheric nuclear weapons tests in the 1960s.
"It was very concerning," Buesseler said during a recent interview in his lab, dubbed "Cafe Thorium," after the naturally occurring radioactive metal.
"It dropped off, but it never went back to pre-Fukushima levels," he said. Buesseler, along with a team from WHOI, made the first of his three visits to the Fukushima area in June 2011, suspected groundwater flowing through the reactor site was carrying radiation into the sea.
After denying that scenario for months, the Tokyo Electric Power Co., the Japanese utility that operates the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, admitted in August that there have been spills at the site and that irradiated groundwater is coursing through the Fukushima property on a daily basis.
Leaks from hastily constructed storage tanks holding contaminated water used by cleanup workers to cool down the reactor site also are contributing to the ongoing radioactivity. (FULL ARTICLE----LINK)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for your comments. In order to eliminate spam all comments are moderated. Comments will only be edited if they contain expletives or attacks on another person. All viewpoints are welcome.