The "vast majority" of fish caught off Japan show no sign of radioactive contamination at levels dangerous to humans, even at the tighter limits Japan imposed after the Fukushima Daiichi accident, Ken Buesseler, a marine radiochemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, wrote in this week's edition of the journal Science.
But close to the plant, an ongoing high level of the reactor byproducts cesium-134 and cesium-137 "implies that cesium is still being released to the food chain," he wrote.
People wearing protective suits and masks ride on a bus past the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station in Okuma, Japan, on Saturday, November 12. Journalists got their first ground-level glance around the stricken facility, eying shells of reactor buildings, tons of contaminated water, and workers still scurrying to mitigate damage from a crisis that began eight months ago. The crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station is seen through a bus window in Okuma on Saturday.
An epic 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami March 11 wreaked havoc around Japan, killing more than 15,000 people. While many of those died instantly, the East Asian nation was on edge for weeks as utility and government employees scrambled to prevent a worsening nuclear catastrophe at the Daiichi plant, located about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of Tokyo. A deserted street near Okuma is visible from the bus window, inside the contaminated exclusion zone near the crippled nuclear power station. Throughout the summer and fall, there were no longer reports of explosions or new leaks of radioactive material into the ground and sea. But the facility still remained off limits to reporters and, for a 20-kilometer radius around the plant, to the general public, due to the continued high levels of radiation and ongoing efforts to prevent yet more blasts and leaks. Radiation readings rose steadily as the journalists neared the plant, reaching 6.7 microsieverts in Okuma. There, they put on respirator masks, adding to an ensemble of a protective suit, two pairs of gloves, two sets of plastic booties over their shoes and a radiation detector. The crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station is visible through a bus window Saturday. Journalists pass a newly built sea wall next to the crippled nuclear power station. Workers dressed in protective suits and masks are checked for radiation outside a building at J-Village, a soccer training complex now serving as an operation base for those battling Japan's nuclear disaster in Fukushima. A employee of the Tokyo Electric Power Company walks up stairs near temporary housing built for workers who live at J-Village, at the former soccer training complex. A worker carries his belongings as he walks among the temporary housing structures at J-Village. A deserted field and buildings inside the contaminated exclusion zone around the crippled nuclear power station are seen through the bus window. A deserted neighborhood inside the contaminated exclusion zone is visible through the bus window. Fukushima: A closer look Fukushima: A closer look Fukushima: A closer look Fukushima: A closer look Fukushima: A closer look Fukushima: A closer look Fukushima: A closer look Fukushima: A closer look Fukushima:
How to prevent another Fukushima disaster
What caused the Fukushima disaster The sources are likely to be from radioactive particles released by the plant that settled into sediment on the sea floor or from groundwater seeping into the ocean from the plant, as operators continue to pour tons of water a day into the reactors to keep them cool. Researchers can't say definitely which is the more likely source, "but we know both are happening," Buesseler told CNN.
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