Trace Levels of Fukushima Disaster Radionuclides in East Pacific Albacore

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• 作者：Delvan R. Neville ; A. Jason Phillips ; Richard D. Brodeur ; Kathryn A. Higley
• 刊名：Environmental Science & Technology
• 出版年：2014
• 出版时间：May 6, 2014
• 年：2014
• 卷：48
• 期：9
• 页码：4739-4743
• 全文大小：331K
• 年卷期：v.48,no.9(May 6, 2014)
• ISSN：1520-5851

文摘

The Fukushima Daiichi power station released several radionuclides into the Pacific following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. A total of 26 Pacific albacore (Thunnus alalunga) caught off the Pacific Northwest U.S. coast between 2008 and 2012 were analyzed for ¹³⁷Cs and Fukushima-attributed ¹³⁴Cs. Both 2011 (2 of 2) and several 2012 (10 of 17) edible tissue samples exhibited increased activity concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs (234鈥?24 mBq/kg of wet weight) and ¹³⁴Cs (18.2鈥?56 mBq/kg of wet weight). The remaining 2012 samples and all pre-Fukushima (2008鈥?009) samples possessed lower ¹³⁷Cs activity concentrations (103鈥?72 mBq/kg of wet weight) with no detectable ¹³⁴Cs activity. Age, as indicated by fork length, was a strong predictor for both the presence and concentration of ¹³⁴Cs (p < 0.001). Notably, many migration-aged fish did not exhibit any ¹³⁴Cs, suggesting that they had not recently migrated near Japan. None of the tested samples would represent a significant change in annual radiation dose if consumed by humans.