– Professor: Fukushima material to be washing up for years on West Coast — “The fish are going to have some in them” — “People have the right to know what’s there” — “Probably not” enough to worry about (ENENews, Jan 15, 2014):
Orange County Register, Jan. 14, 2014: Researchers to test for Fukushima fallout […] it could continue for a couple years**. “[…] a lot of people have called me,” [Cal. State University of Long Beach professor Steven Manley] said. “People who live along the coastline would ask me, ‘Is it safe to eat fish out of the ocean?’” […] Manley and about 50 others will collect samples of giant and bull kelp to test for two types of cesium, a major contaminant flowing out of the reactor, he said. […] Manley said radioactive material, in any amount, from the Fukushima plant is projected to wash up on West Coast shores into 2016 or 2017**.
**A recent study says the contamination will continue until the mid-2020s. Also be aware that this forecast only took into account the first month of radioactive releases from Fukushima, yet the flow has been ongoing since March 2011 with no end in sight.
KQED (NPR), Jan. 15, 2014: […] Steven Manley, a biology professor at California State University, Long Beach who created Kelp Watch 2014 […] is to measure radiation levels in kelp three times in multiple locations between the Oregon border and Baja California from mid February through next winter and make the results public. […] attention is directed to the radiation traveling in ocean currents, which are much slower than the jet stream. […] Manley and volunteers from 19 institutions will send their kelp samples to Kai Vetter, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley and head of the Applied Nuclear Physics program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory […] A week after the accident, for example, they reported that a person would have to drink 632 liters of Berkeley rainwater – 166 gallons – to be exposed to the same level of radiation as a passenger experiences during a round-trip flight between San Francisco and Washington D.C. […]Prof. Vetter: ‘The concentration of radioactive materials which will be washed ashore here has no impact whatsoever on our daily life […] “The concentration of radioactive materials which will be washed ashore here has no impact whatsoever on our daily life […] The levels we are measuring, they will not be harmful. They will not have any measurable health impact on humans or any detrimental effects in marine biology.”
Prof. Manley: “I’ve gotten calls from people who are coming here to surf, people who live along the coastline, asking me, ‘Is it safe to go in the water? […] Part of the reason for doing this is because the public is very freaked out by all this talk of radioactivity […] If they can actually see the numbers and a commentary as to what they mean, hopefully that’ll put them at ease. […] If it gets into the kelp, certain fish feed directly on the kelp. Other fish feed indirectly by eating other organisms. The fish are going to have some in them […] Now, is it enough to worry about? Probably not. But people have the right to know what’s there.”
More information on ‘Kelp Watch’: California schools announce Fukushima testing: Imperative we monitor for any Fukushima contamination “that will be arriving this year” in ocean — LA Times claims levels are declining, fails to inform readers of radioactive plume crossing Pacific
This article is certainly not alarmist enuff to be posted by the Unknown.
I read all the postings on Fukashima and am disappointed today.