Radiation in California confirmed as Pacific winds carry contamination from Japan

Radiation in California confirmed

Radiation in California from Japan was confirmed by sensitive detectors originally meant to pick up secret nuclear explosions.

Very low levels of radiation from the troubled Fukushima nuclear power plant was monitored in Sacramento, the first time radiation from Japan had reached U.S. shores.

Pacific winds blowing eastward had carried the radiation from Fukushima to California according to European officials. Later, the U.S. Energy Department confirmed that radiation in California was detected but only in very minute amounts not dangerous to human health.

Some environmental groups had earlier sent the White House a letter asking for more "transparency on the part of the government" because it felt the U.S. and Japan were not forthcoming with regards to the real spread and levels of radiation emitted by the Fukushima power plant.

The fact that European authorities beat U.S. officials into announcing the radiation plume in California will likely lend credence to the groups' claims.

"What we can measure is almost a single atom, which has absolutely no danger" for human health, said Swedish Defense Research Agency research director Lars-Erik De Geer. "It has to be very sensitive because we are looking for people who are trying to hide the testing of weapons."

The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization of the United Nations, using Air Force apparatus, first detected radiation in California by the end of last week. Its Sacramento station picked up the radiation readings on Friday, after a separate station in Russia's Kamchatka peninsula detected the radiation.

The contaminated wind is estimated to continue to travel eastward towards the East Coast of the United States after the detection of radiation in California.

Posted by George Daniels on Tuesday March 22 2011, 6:35 AM EST. Ref: NY Times. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Health. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0