The first radioactive material from the 2011 Fukushima disaster has been detected off the coast of Canada, according to a recent study conducted by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

“Radioactivity can be dangerous, and we should be carefully monitoring the oceans after what is certainly the largest accidental release of radioactive contaminants to the oceans in history,” researcher Ken Buesseler told sources.

In March 2011, a tsunami engulfed three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi site, which caused a plume of radioactive debris to contaminate the air and sea. Among the radioactive isotopes released into the environment included cesium-134 and cesium-137, both of which are a by product of nuclear fission.

Cesium-137 has a half life of about 30 years and stays in the environment for decades. Most of the cesium-137 that clouds the air today can be traced back to nuclear fallout in the 20th century. By contrast, cesium-134 has a half life a little over two years. Therefore, most of the cesium-134 detected in the environment today is from the Fukushima disaster, even if its found in areas far away from the power plant.

Radiation strikes coast of Ucluelet

The Woods Hole researchers tested water taken on February 19 dotted throughout the coast of Ucluelet, British Columbia, a small town on Vancouver Island. The researchers detected cesium-134 at levels of 1.4 Becquerels per cubic meter, and cesium-137 at levels of 5.8 Becquerels per cubic meter.

The becquerel is the derived unit of radioactivity in the International System(IS). It is a way to measure radiation levels. Following the Fukushima disaster, Japanese coastal waters contained 50 million Becquerels per cubic meter.

Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans reports that the Pacific Ocean harbors about 1 percent cesium-137 levels of nearly one Becquerel per cubic meter. The radiation levels near Ucluelet were nearly six times higher.

The coast of California has been found to contain radioactive isotopes from the Fukushima disaster too. Experts believed it would take nearly four years for radiation from the Fukushima power plant to reach the West Coast, and it’s right on schedule. In November 2014, a Woods Hole study discovered radiation from Fukushima 100 miles off the coast of California. It was the closest radioactive material had ever come to the West Coast, until now.

The researchers claim that radiation levels are not high enough to pose a threat to marine life or human health. Yet recent events suggest otherwise. Their has been a surge in beached sea lions and dead whales from southern California to Canada, all of which can be explained by radiation altering the marine environment.

Furthermore, radiation has an accumulative effect over time. Nor is the amount of radiation expected to decrease anytime soon. Hundreds of tons of radiation from the power plant flood the ocean every single day and its just now beginning to be made manifest on the West Coast.

Radioactive plume to bombard West Coast by 2017

The new findings are “kind of to be expected. We knew four years later it would be reaching our shoreline, and we had seen it offshore,” Buesseler said. “Predicting the spread of radiation becomes more complex the closer it gets to the coast.”

Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center in Norway predicts that the main part of the radioactive ocean plume is likely to sandblast the North American West Coast in 2017 and peak in 2018. The model illustrated that radioactive debris could remain on the West Coast until 2026.

To make matters worse, TEPCO has deliberately dumped radioactive water into the sea, despite local fishermen protest. Unfortunately, the isotopes researchers are finding off the coast of Ucluelet are just the tip of the radioactive iceberg.

Sources include:

(1) GlobalResearch.ca