Radioactive cesium from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been flowing into the ocean since an earthquake and tsunami caused a meltdown of its three reactors in 2011. Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts and Japan’s Kanazawa University have discovered a new way cesium is traveling from the power plant site into the ocean and to groundwater miles away.
The discovery, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Oct. 2, applies not only to Fukushima, but also has implications for the approximately 440 coastal nuclear power plants around the world.
