Fukushima radiation reaches Canadian waters

A boat carried inland a month ago by the tsunami still sits in a field, Namie, Fukushima Pref., Japan, April 12 2011 (Credit: S. L. Herman/Voice of America, via Wikimedia Commons)

Researchers at an annual ocean science meeting announced that radiation from the ruined Fukushima reactor has been detected in Canadian waters, Livescience reported.

The announcement, made at the American Geophysical Union’s Ocean Sciences meeting in Honolulu, revealed that two radioactive cesium isotopes were discovered off the shores of British Columbia. The concentrations of cesium-134 and cesium-137 are within the Canadian safety limits for drinking water.

U.S. testing has thus far shown that radioactivity from Japan’s nuclear plant has not reached Washington, California or Hawaii, according to a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

Image: A boat carried inland a month ago by the tsunami that damaged Fukushima still sits in a field, Namie, Fukushima Pref., Japan, April 12 2011 (Credit: S. L. Herman/Voice of America, via Wikimedia Commons)