– Marine Chemist: Latest numbers I have are Fukushima released 80 Quadrillion Bq of cesium-137 (Chernobyl estimated at 70 Quadrillion) — “The radioactive plume itself has actually arrived… it’s already here” on west coast (AUDIO) (ENENews, Jan 21, 2014):
‘Your Call’ hosted by Rose Aguilar, KALW, Jan. 16, 2014:
At 10:30 in
Jay Cullen, associate professor at the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria: At this point, the most recent numbers I have in front of me — and perhaps Ken can provide some insight here too — there’s been on the order of 80 petabecquerels of cesium-137 that’s been released to the environment [from Fukushima Daiichi]*.
At 12:30 in
Ken Buesseler, senior scientist in marine chemistry & geochemistry at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution: It actually surprised us a bit this summer when they said [the Fukushima Daiichi site is] not leaking into the ocean, and they said it’s not getting out of the harbor. Anyone offshore can detect those isotopes. It is leaking, continuously at low levels of cesium, compared to the release — nothing like the 100 of, or 50 to 80 petabecquerels in 2011.
At 41:25 in
Cullen: The radioactive plume itself has actually arrived here we know in British Columbia […] In 2012 we started to detect radionuclides offshore. And in 2013 that water was about 0.3 becquerel, sorry, pardon me, 3 becquerels per m³, was showing up on the coast — it’s already here.
*The Nuclear Energy Agency’s originally estimated Chernobyl released 85 petabecquerels of cs-137, which was later revised to 70 petabecquerels when more accurate data became available.
After putting off listening to this program, glad I finally did. It was nice to hear Prof. Cullen sticking with cubic meters instead of making the conversion to liters, as had been done on previous occasions. The 53-minute broadcast is available here