It was over one year ago that an earthquake triggered a tsunami that destroyed a nuclear power plant in Japan. Scientists have recently discovered some bluefin tuna that carried radioactive contamination 6,000 miles, to the shores of the United States, reports the Huffington Post. This is the first time that a large, migrating fish has carried radio activity so far.
Since larger fish can shed and metabolize radioactive substances, scientists did not expect the nuclear fallout to linger in Pacific bluefin tuna, which spawn off of the Japanese coast. The species is one of the largest fish, measuring up to 10 feet long and tipping the scales at over 1,000 pounds. They are also one of the fastest fish.
Although the Japanese and American governments still consider these fish to be safe for consumption, the levels of radioactive cesium were 10 times those measured in tuna off the California coast in past years.
"We were frankly kind of startled," said Nicholas Fisher, one of the researchers reporting the findings.
The tuna that are currently swimming to California been in radioactive waters for a longer period than the fish that arrived last summer. It's not yet known how this will affect concentrations of contamination.
The radioactive fallout from the nuclear plant's collapse has also affected rice in the area. Many farmers' fields are located too close to the site, and those workers who are allowed to seed their rice paddies haven't been able to sell them yet. The government bought last year's crops and put them in storage because they were too radioactive to eat. This year, each grain will be tested for radiation levels before it is decided whether the crops are safe to sell or not.
To help cut down on how much radiation gets into the rice, the government in Tokyo has alloted 100 billion yen (or $1.3 billion, U.S.D.) for deconamination. With that money, farmers have used zeolite, which is described as "a pebble-like material that traps radioactive cesium." They also added fertilizer with potassium to help block radiation absorption.
Japan's safety limit for radiation exposure is 1 millisievert per year, but some areas in the northeastern prefecture (state) of Fukushima, where the nuclear plant was located, measure higher at about 20 millisieverts. The 12-mile "no-go zone" that was created around the nuclear plant displaced some 100,000 people.
