Ocean Absorbed 79 Percent Of Fukushima Fallout
Jeff McMahon
Forbes.com
10/29/2011
About 19 percent of airborne fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster was deposited in Japan, and only about 2 percent made it to other land areas in Asia and North America, according to a study published this week by the European Geosciences Union. The bulk was absorbed by the Pacific Ocean.
Opponents of nuclear energy have seized on the European study because it describes the total release at Fukushima as “massive.” It finds that twice as much cesium 137 was released at Fukushima than originally reported.
And it says “high concentrations” reached North America and Europe.
It examines two radionuclides in particular–xenon 133 and cesium 137–and measures the total release in terabecquerels.
“Altogether, we estimate that 6.4 TBq of 137Cs, or 19 percent of the total fallout until 20 April, were deposited over Japanese land areas, while most of the rest fell over the North Pacific Ocean,” the authors write. “Only 0.7 TBq, or 2 percent of the total fallout were deposited on land areas other than Japan.”
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