*Just In* More US tuna contaminated — Study: Entire food web “including humans” may be affected as Fukushima radionuclides spread to West Coast
http://enenews.com/tuna-contaminated-study-entire-food-web-including-hum...
Source: http://www.pices.int/outgoing/PICES-2012/Abstracts/S11/8703_Brodeur-j.doc
Backup: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:Vj5eDhzn7CgJ:www.pices.int/ou...
Fisheries researcher Jason Phillips bleeds a just-caught albacore tuna into a collection bag (By Cisco Werner, Southwest Fisheries Science Center)
Assessment and characterization of radionuclide concentrations from the Fukushima Reactor release in the plankton and nekton communities of the Northern California Current
Delvan Neville, Richard D. Brodeur, A. Jason Phillips and Kathryn Higley
The incident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant released a substantial radioactive contamination into the environment. With the predominant wind and current flow in this part of the North Pacific, these radionuclides will gradually spread to the US West Coast waters after a suitable period of time, with the possibility of affecting food quality throughout the food web (including humans). In addition to the passive transport by currents and winds, the migratory pathways of large pelagic fish extend from Japan to the Northern California Current. These organisms can serve as transport vectors for these nuclides, especially given their capacity to concentrate radionuclides from surrounding waters and prey. We examine the amount and distribution of important radionuclides in the Northern California Current ecosystem from the plankton to larger fish, seabirds and marine mammals based on archived and post-exposure organisms. In particular, we focus on albacore tuna as a target species that migrates across the North Pacific Ocean feeding throughout its range and is commercially important along the U.S. West Coast. By predicting the radio-biologic stress (if any) for a managed species as more Fukushima-related radionuclides are uptaken, appropriate action may be taken before significant population effects have occurred. Determination of natural background concentrations and high quality transport models produced from these data also aid in management in the event of a future accidental release, and in regulating safe activity releases.
Oregon State University Press Release, Oct. 24, 2012:
[...] Phillips spent this summer collecting more fish at sea, off Oregon and Washington, as well as from scientists, fishermen and other sources along the West Coast. [...] As more fish were tested, the results were consistent with the initial findings: No Cs-134 in fish caught before the disaster, but traces of the isotope in a significant number of fish caught since. “This is what we’ve seen after testing about 70 pounds of tuna,” Neville said. [...]
More info on actual levels 10/26/12
New info via simplyinfo.org-
http://www.simplyinfo.org/?p=8070
Levels are quite low. Bear in mind this is albacore, not blue fin.
BC 10/26/12
a 100-fold increase in gamma ray activity
Radioactive isotopes in atmospheric aerosols over Russia and the Sea of Japan following the nuclear accident at Fukushima nr. 1 Daiichi nuclear power station in March 2011
http://www.pices.int/publications/book_of_abstracts/PICES-2012-Book-of-A...
S6 Session Poster Presentations S6-1
Between March 25 and April 15, an increase in concentrations of atmospheric aerosols over Vladivostok from 121 μg/m3 to 330 μg/m3 was detected. This increase was accompanied by an increase in gamma-ray activity associated with Cs -134, Cs-137 and I-131. During the period March 18 to April 8, gamma-ray activity of Cs-137 and Cs-134 in atmospheric aerosols increased 100 times compared with the minimum detectable activity (MDA) level, and peaked in the weekly sample collected from April 8 to 15 (166 μBq/m3 and 169 μBq/m3 respectively). Variability of gamma activity of natural isotopes of Be-7 and K-40 was not greater than one order magnitude throughout the sampling period.
Between March 25 and April 8, 2011, a 100-fold increase in gamma ray activity of Cs-137 and Cs-134 in atmospheric aerosols compared to the minimum detectable activity (MDA) level was detected in the city of Tomsk.
Maximum values of Cs-137 and Cs -134 concentrations (213.8 μBq/m3 and 84.5 μBq/m3 respectively) were observed in samples taken from April 1 to 8. Maximum gamma-ray activity of Cs-137, Cs -134 and I-131 over the Sea of Japan surface was 61 μBq/m3, 153.7 μBq/m3 and 787 μBq/m3 respectively.
I would advise all to read
I would advise all to read this as well, which is a link embedded in the enenews article-
http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2012/oct/pacific-albacore-carry-b...
No MDA's are quoted but the obviously well meaning and concerned folks behind the study add that levels are "far below health concern". That is subjective, of course, but it doesn't seem like the tuna is 100 bq/kg or something like that.
In any case, looking forward to data, and dammit, do not panic. If you're still concerned or perhaps paranoid (and I could be described at both some times) just skip the fish.
BC 10/23/12
Hot Tuna
Some Tuna samples will probably show MUCH higher radionuclide contamination, when more test results have been disclosed.
http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2012/oct/pacific-albacore-carry-b...
The researchers first identified two Fukushima-linked isotopes – Cesium-137 (Cs-137) and Cesium-134 (Cs-134) – this July, in samples of fish caught and frozen in 2011.
This particular combination of radioactive isotopes is produced by fission in nuclear reactors, and less commonly, nuclear weapons. Cs-134, in particular, is considered key to the Fukushima nuclear “fingerprint” because it decays very rapidly, with a half-life of just more than two years. While Cs-137, which persists for decades in the environment, could come from other possible sources, scientists say, the Cs-134 could only have come from the Fukushima reactors.
But the team needed more evidence to support the radioactivity findings. Phillips spent this summer collecting more fish at sea, off Oregon and Washington, as well as from scientists, fishermen and other sources along the West Coast. Neville ran more tests, validating his methods against freeze-dried fish standards tested by dozens of labs – and got the same results. They also shared fish samples with the Washington state Office of Radiation Protection, where radiation health physicist Lynn Albin is analyzing them as an additional check.
As more fish were tested, the results were consistent with the initial findings: No Cs-134 in fish caught before the disaster, but traces of the isotope in a significant number of fish caught since.
“This is what we've seen after testing about 70 pounds of tuna,” Neville said. “When you've run one or two samples, you can't really say much about the population you're testing yet. When you've run five or six, you could make some guesses. When you're up to, at this time, 18 samples and everything has fallen fairly neatly into two groups of results, you can start to make some predictions about that population.
Bc I read it and you or anyone can't spin this as good news...
Bc ,theres no downplaying fukushimas radionuclides reach there it was in our indipendent soil tests ,ucb soil tests ,the bluefin tuna study ,california kelp study.what strikes me is these albacore tuna were promised to be so far away they would be unaffected ( sound familiar ) .Bottom feeder of the pacific should be next stateside study, why well Japan's waters hundreds of miles away from those ex vessel reactors researchers are stunned to find fish* over Japan's 100bq/kg limit...tdm
*http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120925i1.html
Understanding radiation limits in food article below wild imposed stuff .one country's limits could be ten times another country limits lol...
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/03/29/toward-a-lower-cesium-diet/
No spin here. This whole
No spin here. This whole thing is crap-tastic. My point was to point folks to some of the rest of the info wherein the OSU researchers make the claim that levels are not a health concern at this juncture. I am of the opinion that while there is some good info at enenews there is also a consistent tendency to make the most out of any bad news.
FWIW, I would like to see the data from the OSU study and of course an effort by our gov't to have a believable testing regimen.
BC 10/25/12
A bit of honesty.
http://www.simplyinfo.org/?p=8070
"The albacore news is good and bad. Good that the levels found are so low, bad in that there are still traces being found in fish landed off the US coast."
http://www.simplyinfo.org/?p=8070
OODLES of Fukushima DATA
OODLES of Fukushima radioactive release data and food contamination data have been gathered, through EXTENSIVE testing.
The problem is that Obama, Japan, CTBTO and the IAEA won't PUBLISH the test results.
http://www.iaea.org/
http://www.ctbto.org/
Clue: ... Focus on the REAL problem.