Seaweed and Iodine-131

April 7th, 2011

During the nuclear crisis in Japan, radioactive isotopes emited from the Fukushima nuclear plant have been noticed here on the coast of British Columbia.

SFU nuclear scientist, Kris Starosta, has been studying rain, seawater and seaweed samples from around Vancouver and Barkley Sound. The Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre' s Dr. David Riddell and Dr. Hana Kucera are helping with the collection of samples from Eagle Bay, in Bamfield, B.C..

The study is showing that there are increased levels of the isotope iodine-131 in the rain, seawater and seaweed. According to Starosta, “the only possible source of iodine-131 in the atmosphere is a release from a nuclear fission, iodine-131 has a half life of eight days. Thus we conclude the only possible release which could happen is from the Fukushima incident.”

But the levels are well below anything that might affect people's health. To put it into perspective, with regards to consuming seaweed, one would have to consume 1 kilogram of seaweed to get the same exposure as a dental x-ray, 2 kilos would expose someone to about the same amount one might get from nautral sources, and 6 kg of dried seaweed in a day would expose a person to the same amount of radiation one might get while on a flight from New York to LA.

for more info and references:

cbc news stories:

"Canadian food unharmed by Japan radiation so far"

"Radiation from Japan 'not harmful':B.C. scientist"