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A journalist looks at the stricken Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the town of Okuma, Fukushima prefecture on Feb. 28, 2012. (Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images)
Ocean waters off the coast of several Japanese prefectures was found to have radioactive cesium that likely came from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster, the government said.
“Even if taken internally, the radiation levels detected are not a risk to human health,” said Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, according to the Mainichi newspaper.
The agency said the survey was carried out last year and said elevated levels of the radioactive element were found in waters off Niigata, Shizuoka, and Iwate prefectures. The survey is done each year near nuclear plants in Japan.
Around 9.1 millibecquerels of radioactive cesium was found in water off Shizuoka Prefecture near the Hamaoka nuclear plant and officials found two becquerels per kilogram in a type of fish in the area.
Radioactive cesium is a human-created isotope that is produced during nuclear fission and has a half-life of around 30 years, making it highly toxic for humans.
In a recent report from Vancouver’s Straight.com, irradiated fish from Japan likely caused by the Fukushima disaster are worrying experts.
Tim Takaro, an associate professor with Vancouver’s Simon Fraser University in the health sciences department, told Straight that he suggests finding “another source for fish” if it is coming from that area.
“There are way too many questions and not enough answers to say everything is fine,” Takaro added in the report, which was published in mid-July. “There is a need for monitoring. There isn’t any question in my mind about that. Takaro is a member of Canadian antinuclear group Physicians for Global Survival.
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