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NE Pacific | Home Home Search Primary Menu Skip to contentWell-nighInFORMal E-News InFORM Scientists InFORMal Scientists InFORMal Science Photos Partners InFORM Monitoring InFORMal E-News MethodsResiderScience Gamma Spectroscopy Marine Biota Monitoring Methods for Other Radionuclides (WHOI CMER) Biota Oceanic Coastal Archived Results Radiation Research By Location Japan Fukushima NW Pacific N Pacific NE Pacific British Columbia North America Chernobyl By Sample Type Algae Atmospheric Human Marine Life Model Plants & Fungi Seawater Sediment By Isotope Cesium Iodine Plutonium Polonium Potassium Strontium Tellurium Uranium Xenon Presentations & Media Presentations Media Interviews Resources InFORMing Research FAQ Radiological Monitoring at the Radiation Protection Bureau of Health Canada IAEA Inter-laboratory Comparison Report 2014-2016 Official IAEA Report on the Fukushima DaiichiWreckingUNSCEAR 2017 Report on Levels and Effects of Radiation Exposure Methods for Other Radionuclides (WHOI CMER) Safety lessons learned from Fukushima: Part 1 – National Acadamies Report Safety lessons learned from Fukushima: Part 2 – National Acadamies Report Health Canada Observations Post-Disaster Canadian Radiological Monitoring Network Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials Guidelines Search for: Category Archives: NE Pacific British Columbia, Cesium,ResiderScience, InFORMing Research, Location, Monitoring, N Pacific, NE Pacific, North America, Peer Reviewed Update on Fukushima Monitoring Activities in North America: 7 Years On March 9, 2018 fukushimainform Leave a scuttlebutt The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) and surroundings surpassing the tragic events of March 11, 2011 By Jay T. Cullen The purpose of this post is to bring the polity up to stage on monitoring efforts aimed at understanding the impact of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) wrecking on environmental and public health. This post is part of an ongoing series and will focus on North American monitoring, summarizing work carried out by the Integrated Fukushima Ocean Radionuclide Monitoring (InFORM) project. Seven years since the peak in releases to the environment our project continues to measure environmental levels of radioisotopes that could represent a radiological health risk to living things. InFORM makes measurements of levels in seawater and worldwide marine organisms as consumption of seafood is one of the most likely ways that residents of North America could be exposed to Fukushima derived contamination. Maximum contamination levels in seawater from Fukushima measured in waters offshore and onshore British Columbia and in the Arctic Ocean are well-nigh 8 to 10-fold lower than levels present in the North Pacific during the height of atmospheric nuclear weapons testing in the 1950’s and 1960’s.  These levels are roughly 1000-fold unelevated the maximum mandated drinking water standards for these isotopes.  Levels in marine organisms have not reverted significantly since surpassing the disaster.  As was reported in 2015 in this comprehensive study by Health Canada and backed up by measurements made by the international scientific polity the release of radioisotopes from Fukushima will have no measurable impact on the health of the marine ecosystem in the northeast Pacific nor on public health in North America.   On March 11, 2011 all vision were on Japan and I was watching too and feeling undeniably the loss of life that the earthquake and tsunami brought on the Japanese people. A little later I watched as events at the FDNPP began to unfold and it became well-spoken that a major nuclear wrecking was underway. I wondered what it meant for me and my family and friends in Victoria, BC Canada. I catalogued all the monitoring data coming in in 2011 I could find from the international scientific polity and kept shielding watch on the scientific literature. In 2013 I began communicating with the public well-nigh what the triple meltdowns at the FDNPP meant for the health of our marine ecosystem and public health considering much of the information getting to the public was not scientifically sound, misinformed the public in unstipulated and overestimated the risk to people living in North America. The short of the story then was that nothing in the measurements of air, soil and water suggested any significant risk to public or environmental health.  But it was well-spoken that many in the public were stuff mislead by information online. To write the lack of quality information getting to the public I and other scientists in Canada and the USA, non-Governmental Organizations and resider scientist volunteers put together the InFORM network. This is what we have found so far. Offshore Monitoring of Seawater Contamination The levels of radionuclide contamination in seawater is important to understand as the levels that ultimately are found in marine organisms is set by seawater levels.  InFORM recently published a peer-reviewed paper in Environmental Science and Technology summarizing our results to date. Offshore levels of Fukushima derived isotopes have peaked and are now decreasing at our westernmost stations 1000-1500 kilometers from the North American coast.  The peak levels are well unelevated levels measured in the same waters during the 1950’s and 1960’s when atmospheric nuclear weapons tests were common.  The study zone is shown in the icon unelevated withal with the prevailing currents that brought the contaminated seawater to North America. ​ ​Study zone showing the onshore-offshore sampling line occupied by the InFORM project with the support of Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Station P26 is ~1500 kilometers from the tailspin of North America.   ​Measurements of radiocesium isotopes help scientists determine how much impact Fukushima has had on seawater at any given location on the globe. Off North America levels peaked at well-nigh 10 Bq per cubic meter of seawater (a Bq = Becquerel is one waste of an whit per second).  This peak contamination is well-nigh 10-fold unelevated levels measured here in the middle of the 20th century and 1000-fold unelevated levels unliable in drinking water in Canada. The icon unelevated shows how Fukushima derived contamination arrived in the upper ~400 meters of seawater from June 2013 until August of 2016. ​ ​Progression of Fukushima contamination in the upper 500 meters of seawater over time toward the tailspin of North America withal the Line P times series stations. Data J. Smith (DFO). The tailspin is on the right hand side of the icon with loftiness offshore plotted on the x-axis and depth in the ocean on the y-axis. Red values would indicate seawater with cesium concentrations that exceed drinking water standards. The verisimilitude scheme is on a logarithmic scale.   ​The icon unelevated shows the transpiration in contamination with time and the levels in comparison to historical levels in the eastern North Pacific Ocean. ​ ​Peak levels of contamination from Fukushima in the northeast Pacific at stations P26 (offshore), P16 (intermediate) and P4 (coastal) since 2011 compared with model predictions of Rossi.  Insert shows Fukushima contamination relative to weapons testing fallout. Levels at P26 have peaked and are unthriving reflecting the large releases in the weeks pursuit the meltdown with sustained by much lower releases persisting from that time on.   ​Levels measured now and predicted to victorious withal the tailspin in the future will not tideway levels known to represent a significant risk to the health of marine organisms or human beings. Coastal Monitoring Efforts by InFORMResiderScientists Every month since well-nigh December 2014 volunteer resider scientists in 15 coastal communities up and lanugo the shores of British Columbia have placid seawater samples at the waterfront and returned them to our laboratories for analysis.  The sampling network is shown below. ​Coastal seawater monitoring stations in British Columbia.   Since monitoring began coastal seawater concentrations have increased as the Fukushima contamination plume arrives.  The first detection of Fukushima contamination at the tailspin occurred in Feb. 2015 in the coastal polity of Ucluelet on the west tailspin of Vancouver Island. Since that time levels have increased moderately and likely reflect that fact that the mixing of freshwaters coming from the land with the contaminated oceanic waters tend to insulate the tailspin from higher levels of contamination measured offshore.  At the coastal locations contamination levels of human-made isotopes (which are a very small fraction of the radioactive elements in seawater) have increased 2-4 times relative to the pre-Fukushima levels. ​ ​Levels of radiocesium detected at the tailspin of British Columbia since monitoring began in 2014.  Regional patterns are shown in the second panel with increasingly ocean exposed (west tailspin of Vancouver Island and north tailspin of BC) sites showing increasingly Fukushima derived contamination than sites in the Salish Sea or in sheltered areas of the inside coast.   Our coastal ecosystem and supplies supply are not at risk from these low levels of radioisotope contamination. Monitoring of Pacific Salmon and Other Marine Organisms Since 2014 we have placid and analyzed ~100 Pacific salmon and steel throne trout per year returning to rivers up and lanugo the BC tailspin from the Pacific Ocean.  There has been no statistically significant increase in the levels of human-made isotopes in the fish since surpassing the Fukushima disaster. The dose of ionizing radiation experienced by consumers of Pacific fish and shellfish is still dominated by the presence of naturally occurring radioisotopes in the Uranium and Thorium waste series (principally 210-Polonium) and remains well unelevated levels that might represent a health risk. Our results are summarized in the pursuit two figures. ​ ​Monitoring results for Pacific fish as of September 2017. Approximately 450 fish have been placid over the period 2014-2017. No significant increase in artificial, human made isotopes has been detected.   ​The ionizing dose from consuming these fish is insignificant relative to other sources of ionizing radiation dose experienced by members of the public in North America. No measurable health impacts are expected. ​ ​Dose of ionizing radiation from Fukushima derived isotopes relative to other sources.   Summary Our intensive monitoring of environmental levels of contamination from Fukushima here in North America indicate that there is insignificant risk to ecosystem or public health resulting from the levels of radioisotopes detected in seawater and marine organisms.  A summary of our program results thus far and monitoring of conditions off of Fukushima in Japan are given in the pursuit figure. Consistent with model predictions and the measurements made by scientists virtually the globe, the FDNPP wrecking will not have measurable negative impacts on North America’s marine ecosystems or public health. Levels of contamination are simply too far unelevated those known to represent a threat to wildlife or human health. The InFORM project will protract its monitoring efforts into March 2019 and will protract to report its results and make them misogynist to the public as soon as possible. I am misogynist and happy to wordplay and questions related to the project, its goals and results. As unchangingly on this somber year-end I think well-nigh the incredible loss of life from the tsunami and wish the weightier for the recovery of Japan’s coastal communities. Advertisements Cesium, Iodine, Marine Life, NE Pacific, Peer Reviewed Updated – No Fukushima radiation found in 2016 Alaskan fish January 13, 2017 dr.jonathan.kellogg 4 Comments No Fukushima contamination was found in any of the 14 fish Alaskan fish samples that were placid between February and September 2016, equal to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. The results, released on the Alaksa DEC website, show that the sampled herring, cod, and pollock, halibut, and salmon did not have any detectable levels of 131I, 134Cs (the Fukushima fingerprint radionuclide with a half-life of ~2 years) or 137Cs in the tissues.  These samples were from wideness Alaskan waters from Southeast to Bristol Bay and the Aleutian archipelago and the Bering Sea. Results from 2016 are similar to their results from 2015 and are part of the network of institutions monitoring for Fukushima radiation in marine waters and seafoods. The stereotype minimum detectable concentrations for these Alaskan samples on this gamma spectrometer were 63.7 Bq kg-1, 2.1 Bq kg-1, and 1.9 Bq kg-1 respectively for 131I 137Cs,  and 134Cs. While InFORM does not unriddle for 131I, those detection thresholds for cesium are 2-3 times higher than are typical for our biotic monitoring program. This may be due to either a smaller sample size or a shorter time in the gamma spectrometer for the Alaskan samples, but the result remains that levels are well unelevated those where intervention is needed (intervention levels for 131I = 170 Bq kg-1 and 134Cs + 137Cs = 1200 Bq kg-1 equal to the USSuppliesand Drug Administration). InFORM monitoring in 2016 found 9 salmon (out of 123) from BC and Yukon rivers with detectable levels (where the minimum detectable concentrations were less than 1 Bq kg-1) of  137Cs without a six hour detector run. These nine samples are currently stuff freeze-dried for an extended, 2 week long, detection run. Results from this spare wringer are expected probably mid-late spring 2017. An interesting speciality of these 2016 Alaskan samples is that this was the first time a field-deployable gamma spectrometer has been sent by the US Food and Drug Administration to a site for local analyses of samples. Data from the spectrometer were then electronically sent to FDA scientists for analysis. The thought is that this model could be used in the event of nuclear emergency to indulge for increasingly rapid analyses of environmental samples. Alaska DEC will protract monitoring fish samples for Fukushima radiation for at least 2017 and possibly beyond. 131-I134-Cs137-CsAlaskacodFishFukushimaHalibutherringpollockSalmon Cesium, Iodine, Marine Life, NE Pacific, Peer Reviewed No Fukushima radiation found in 2016 Alaskan fish August 11, 2016 dr.jonathan.kellogg 2 Comments No Fukushima contamination was found in any of the 7 fish Alaskan fish samples that were placid during February and March of 2016. The results, released on the Department of Environmental Conservation website, show that the herring, cod, and pollock sampled did not have any detectable levels of 131I, 134Cs (the Fukushima fingerprint radionuclide with a half-life of ~2 years) or 137Cs in the tissues.  These samples follow on their similar results from 2015 and are part of the network of institutions monitoring for Fukushima radiation in marine waters and seafoods.Protractreading No Fukushima radiation found in 2016 Alaskan fish → 131-I134-Cs137-CsAlaskacodFishFukushimaherringpollock Algae, Cesium, NE Pacific, North America Update: 2016 Sampling of North American Pacific Kelp Finds No Signature of Fukushima Contamination August 4, 2016 fukushimainform 3 Comments By Jay T. Cullen Wikipedia image by Ed Bierman from Redwood City, USA of diver exploring a coastal kelp forest   The purpose of this post is to report the most recent and last results from Kelp Watch 2015, a program defended to monitoring for Fukushima derived contamination withal the PacificTailspinof North America.  This post is the latest in a series defended to public outreach and dissemination of scientifically derived information well-nigh the impacts of the Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster on the health of the North Pacific Ocean ecosystem and health of North American residents. Results from the fifth sampling period (March 2 through June 3 2016)  were released on July 15, 2016 and can be found here. As with previously reported results here, here, here, here, and here no radioactive isotopes from Fukushima were detected in kelp growing at sampling sites withal our Pacific tailspin or elsewhere in the Pacific (see sampling sites).  The sparsity of 134Cs in kelp suggests that ocean transport of Fukushima contamination had yet to reach persistently upper unbearable levels in North American coastal water to bioaccumulate in kelp. The levels of Fukushima derived contamination in kelp in 2016 will not pose a significant risk to the health of the kelp or other species, including humans, which rely on them as a foodstuff.Protractreading Update: 2016 Sampling of North American Pacific Kelp Finds No Signature of Fukushima Contamination → AlgaeCesiumCitizen ScienceEnvironmental MonitoringKelpWatch Cesium, Fukushima, Japan, N Pacific, NE Pacific, NW Pacific, Peer Reviewed, SeawaterUnshutAccess Review of Fukushima Radionuclide Source Term, Fate and Impact in Pacific July 12, 2016 dr.jonathan.kellogg 1ScuttlebuttSchematic of Fukushima Daiichi sources of 137-Cs from Buesseler et al. (in press). Atmospheric fallout (1) and uncontrived ocean discharges (2) represent total petabecquerels (PBq = 10^15 Bq) released in the first month of the meltdowns. Groundwater fluxes (3) and river runoff (4) are injudicious ranges for the first year in terabecquerels (TBq = 10^12 Bq), a unit 1,000 times smaller than the PBq used for fallout and uncontrived discharge. Details on source term estimates can be found in the paper (http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-marine-010816-060733). (Buesseler et al. 2017) by Jay T Cullen The purpose of this post is to bring to the sustentation of readers here a review of the misogynist measurements and science based investigations of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) and its impact on the Pacific Ocean ecosystem and public health. This post is part of an ongoing effort to summarize scientifically rigorous information well-nigh the disaster for interested readers. The new paper is a product of a working group on radioactivity in the ocean convened by the Scientific Committee on Ocean Research (SCOR) an international non-governmental non-profit organization. I highly recommend this paper for anyone who wishes to largest understand what the international scientific polity has found well-nigh the marine release, fate and impact of FDNPP-derived radionuclides in the marine environment.  The working group was made up of 10 experts from 9 variegated countries, including Japan, and published the unshut wangle paper in Annual Reviews.  The main findings of the review were as follows: The value of 137Cs released from the plant was ~50-fold less than the fall out from nuclear weapons testing in the 20th century and ~5-fold lower than that released from Chernobyl in 1986. Total releases from Fukushima are similar to the discharges of 137Cs from the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant Sellafield in the UK Initial releases in the weeks to months without the disaster which began on March 11, 2011 dwarf those from aggregated ongoing releases from the plant site The majority of radionuclide releases ended up in the Pacific Ocean with most deposition and input occurring tropical to the FDNPP Current range of estimates of the total 137Cs ocean source term are 15-25 PBq (PBq = 1015 Becquerel where a Bq is one nuclear waste event per second). While many other radionuclides were released from FDNPP, the most likely isotopes to represent a health risk to the marine ecosystem and public are those of Cs given their longer half-lives for radioactive waste (134Cs = ~2 yrs; 137Cs = ~30 yrs) and higher relative zillions compared to other isotopes of snooping in the FDNPP source termConsideringCs is very soluble it rapidly sparse in the ocean without the disaster given mixing, transport and dilution by ocean currents.  Peak levels of 137Cs occurred tropical to the plant in 2011 where worriedness concentrations near FDNPP was tens of millions of times higher than surpassing the accident. By 2014 137Cs concentrations in the inside North Pacific was well-nigh six times the remaining weapons testing fallout and well-nigh 2-3 times higher than prior fallout levels in the northeast Pacific near to North America. Most of the fallout remains well-matured in the top few hundred meters of the ocean. Measurements stuff made by the Fukushima InFORM project indicate that maximum 137Cs levels off the North American tailspin are likely to occur this year surpassing unthriving to levels associated with preliminaries nuclear weapon testing surpassing the wrecking by well-nigh the end of this decade There are unlikely to be measurable effects on marine life with the exception of coastal areas very tropical to FDNPP immediately without the disaster. Monitoring of fish species in Fukushima Prefecture show that well-nigh 50% of samples in coastal waters had radiocesium levels whilom the Japanese 100 Bq kg-1 limit, but that by 2015 this had dropped to less than 1% measuring over the limit.Upperlevels protract to be found in fish virtually and in the FDNPP port Given levels in seawater and marine organisms measurable impacts to human health through contact with the ocean and the consumption of seafoods are very unlikely There are many informative graphics and moderately technical summaries of misogynist studies found in the new paper.  The authors highlight the difficulty of monitoring radionuclides in the ocean  given the dynamic nature of the sea and logistical challenges presented by the temporal and spatial scales and low levels of FDNPP derived contamination going forward.  In wing to providing ongoing assessments of risk to the environment from the disaster it is likely that useful information well-nigh ocean diffusion will be obtained through unfurled monitoring efforts. 134-Cs137-CsEnvironmental MonitoringFukushimaOceanographyPacific Posts navigation 1 2 Next → View Fukushima-InFORM-257383817784613’s profile on FacebookView @FukushimaInFORM’s profile on TwitterView UCRqxVIr3s5Yc-djXahyBunA’s profile on YouTube Recent Posts Voyage Reflections Friday the 13th was the Luckiest Day Ever Into the Storm Advertisements Funded by Blog at WordPress.com. 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