Gov’t Report: Elevated radiation on California coast to last “several decades” — Local marine life “will accumulate” Fukushima radioactive material — Plutonium a potential concern — “On-going monitoring clearly warranted” yet ‘surprisingly little’ underway

– Gov’t Report: Elevated radiation on California coast to last “several decades” — Local marine life “will accumulate” Fukushima radioactive material — Plutonium a potential concern — “On-going monitoring clearly warranted” yet ‘surprisingly little’ underway (VIDEO) (ENENews, May 22, 2014):

California Coastal Commission (State of Calif. Natural Resources Agency), Apr. 30, 2014:

‘Several Decades’ of Fukushima Contamination

• “The most recently reported measurements of radioactive cesium in North Pacific seawater indicate that the Fukushima plume is beginning its arrival off the west coast of North America. […] It remains uncertain exactly when, and at what concentration, the radioactive plume will reach the California coast […] Once the radioactive plume does reach California, concentrations of radiocesium are predicted to increase to peak values between 2016 and 2019, declining gradually thereafter over the next several decades.”

Plutonium Concerns?

• “Fukushima releases were dominated by gases and volatile fission products […] with little of the […] primary nuclear fuels (plutonium, uranium) […] long-lived nuclear fission products of potential concern include isotopes of strontium and plutonium […] a very small amount of plutonium may have been released to the atmosphere”

Marine life/Seafood

• “When the plume of radioactivity currently spreading across the North Pacific reaches the California coast, local marine life will accumulate Fukushima-derived radioactive cesium (and other radionuclides present at much lower levels, such as 90Sr). […] marine organisms are unlikely to accumulate dangerous quantities of radioactivity. However, on-going monitoring of the situation is clearly warranted.” [See also: Professors: Seafood off N. America coast predicted to exceed gov’t radioactivity limit — Fukushima radiation to reach levels ‘well above’ 1,000 Bq/kg according to model]

On-going Monitoring?

• “[S]urprisingly little research effort has been devoted to [the potential for dangerous levels of contamination] in California. […] Outside of Japan, ocean monitoring of Fukushima radiation has received much less attention and support from government agencies […] neither the U.S. federal government nor the state of California is currently testing for Fukushima-derived radiation off the California coast.”

Watch a discussion of this report at the last Coastal Commission meeting here