Fukushima radiation detected off the coast of Canada

For the first time, radiation from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster has been detected on a North American shoreline, with trace amounts of Cesium-134 and Cesium-137 found in samples collected off the coast of Ucluelet on Vancouver Island.

The levels are not high enough to pose a threat to human or marine life, scientists told The Guardian, as the water samples contained 1.4 Becquerels per cubic meter of Cesium-134 and 5.8 Becquerels per cubic meter of Cesium-137. However, "radioactivity can be dangerous, and we should be carefully monitoring the oceans after what is certainly the largest accidental release of radioactive contaminants to the oceans in history," said Ken Buessler, a scientist with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Last November, Woods Hole detected radiation from Fukushima about 100 miles off the coast of Northern California, but since then it has not been found any closer to the shore. Buessler said he expects to see low cesium levels reaching Washington down to California, but said that "predicting the spread of radiation becomes more complex the closer it gets to the coast."

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