Study shows Fukushima nuclear pollution becoming more concentrated as it nears U.S. West Coast — Plume crosses ocean in nearly straight line toward America — Appears to stay together with little dispersion (MODEL)
ENENews.com
August 20th, 2013
Title: An ensemble estimation of impact times and strength of Fukushima nuclear pollution to the east coast of China and the west coast of America
Source: Science China Earth Sciences; Volume 56, Issue 8, pp 1447-1451
Authors: GuiJun Han, Wei Li, HongLi Fu, XueFeng Zhang, XiDong Wang, XinRong Wu, LianXin Zhang
Date: August 2013
[…] On the next day of the Japanese earthquake on March 11, 2011, the nuclear reactors in Fukushima Nuclear Power Plants began to explode. The nuclear reactor explosion resulted in a great amount of radioactive matter leaked into the sea neighboring to Fukushima. On March 30, 2011, the Japan Central News Agency reported the monitored radioactive pollutions that were 4000 times higher than the standard level. Whether or not these nuclear pollutants will be transported to the Pacific-neighboring countries through oceanic circulations becomes a world-wide concern. This study focuses on the impact of Fukushima nuclear pollutants on the east coast of China and the west coast of America through oceanic surface currents. […]
In the study. the greatest uncertainty is the time scale by which the nuclear pollutants are transported to reach the east coast of China through the surface drifting buoys following the subtropical circulation. From one surface drifting buoy, the estimated time is 1.6 years whereas from 7608 nuclear pollutant particulate tracers, the estimated time is 3.6 years. For other two subgroups of drifting paths, the uncertainty of the transport times is relatively small. The time scale of the nuclear pollutants reaching the west coast of America is 3.2 years if it is estimated using the surface drifting buoys and 3.9 years if it is estimated using the nuclear pollutant particulate tracers. The time scale of the nuclear pollutants reaching the east coast of China in the west of Pacific is 1.3 years if 1 is estimated from the surface drifting buoys and 1.8 years if it is estimated from the nuclear pollutant particulate tracers. […]
Map…HERE
