Levels of radioactive iodine in seawater near Fukushima 1250 times higher than normal

PanARMENIAN.Net - Tests showed a sharp spike in levels of radioactive iodine in seawater just offshore of the embattled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are more than 1,250 times higher than normal, Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency said Saturday, March 26.

In samples taken Friday morning from a monitoring station 330 meters off the coast, the levels were 50 becquerels of radioactive iodine per cubic centimeters of water. This compares to 4 becquerels -- which is 104 times above normal -- in samples taken from the same spot the previous morning.

These high levels suggest there may have been some sort of leakage directly into the ocean - unlikely to be because of atmosphere emissions or rain alone, said an official with the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the nuclear plant.

A Tokyo Electric official said that authorities are not sure why the levels spiked. The official speculated that the radioactive iodine may have been swept off the coast recently into the Pacific Ocean or the tainted water may have seeped from turbine buildings for two nuclear reactors that have shown the presence of radiation 10,000 times the normal amount.

Still, an official with Japan's nuclear safety agency told reporters Saturday that - while drinking such tainted seawater would be dangerous, given the radiation's potential to cause cancer - the effect on aquatic life imay be relatively minimal.

That's because the radiation tends to dilute, the farther one moves away from the nuclear plant. Data posted on the Japan's education and science ministry website showed relatively small amounts of radioactive particles several kilometers offshore.

The International Atomic Agency said online Saturday that radioactive iodine and cesium was detected 30 kilometers (19 miles) offshore, but it said that these levels differed only slightly from the previous day, CNN reports.