The purpose of this diary is to report on a recent peer-reviewed study that investigated the radionuclide content of fish caught in the harbor of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Powerplant (FDNPP) in 2012 and 2013. The diary is also written in part to address questions like:
Why don't you measure 90Sr in fish you catch off of North America? This diary is part of an ongoing series dedicated to summarizing results from scientific research into the impact of the FDNPP disaster on the environment. Fujimoto and colleagues measured the activity of Cesium-134 (134Cs half life ~2 years), Cesium-137 (137Cs half life ~30 years) and Strontium-90 (90Sr half life ~29 years) in fish collected from the FDNPP harbor and just outside the port in 2012 and 2013. Fish were most contaminated in the harbor and had radiocesium activity concentrations (in whole body without internal organs, Bq kg-1 - wet weight) that were ~200-330 times higher than measured 90Sr levels. The much lower 90Sr levels compared to radiocesium in the fish is consistent with much lower releases of 90Sr to the Pacific Ocean compared to radiocesium in the aftermath of the meltdowns at FDNPP (see here, here and here for example). The activity of radiocesium in fish diminishes dramatically with distance from the harbor and as of April-June 2015 none of the fish caught in Fukushima prefecture waters exceeded the stringent 100 Bq kg-1 Japanese safety standard. Across the Pacific, we have yet to detect Fukushima derived radiocesium in salmon and steelhead trout caught in British Columbian waters as part of the Fukushima InFORM monitoring effort. 90Sr is much more difficult and costly to analyze in environmental samples than are the cesium isotopes. The results of the Fujimoto study suggest that 90Sr from Fukushima is unlikely to be found at detectable levels in marine organisms in the northeast Pacific and that resources to monitor the impact of the disaster on our marine environment should focus on the detection of the cesium isotopes.↧