‘Significant’ amount of radioactive seawater to hit Southern California? Expected on beaches in near future — Fukushima contamination may be ‘pervasive’ across food chain (AUDIO)
ENENews.com
January 23rd, 2014
Orange County Register, Jan. 17, 2014: Radioactive seawater [from] the Fukushima nuclear power plant […] is expected to hit Southern California beaches this summer […] traveling about 1-3 mph. It’s expected to continue flowing until 2016. […] [Steven Manley, professor of biology at Cal State Long Beach and head of ‘Kelp Watch’] said he expects to find concentration of cesium isotopes […] With more organism, invertebrate and fish feeding in the kelp, Manley wants to study what effects the radiation accumulation could have on them. […]
Steven Manley, professor of biology at Cal. State Long Beach & head of ‘Kelp Watch’: “As every year passes it becomes more diluted but it also becomes more widespread […] People should know the amount of radioactive material in the kelp. […] I think the amount will be small, but small doesn’t mean insignificant** […] It is imperative that we monitor this coastal forest for any radioactive contaminants that will be arriving this year in the ocean currents from Fukushima.”
**‘Not Insignificant’: “These double-negative constructions are called ‘litotes.’ They are most often used to understate an idea through the denial of the opposite, which is created by the double negative. […] The use of ‘not’ and the prefix ‘in’ creates an understatement […] ‘significant’ is both the literal and the implied meaning.”
KPCC, Jan. 21, 2014 (at 4:15 in):
Steven Manley, Professor of biology at Cal State Long Beach and head of ‘Kelp Watch’ program: I think we’re going to see low levels […] I anticipate probably low levels will be taken up into our kelp forest. This is s why we’re doing the study. We want to know if it got here and if it is going into this important natural resource, which are our kelp beds.
Host: And so the concern there would be that if it’s in the kelp beds, it’s kind of an index case, right? If it’s there then, it’s probably going to make its way into the food chain.
Manley: Absolutely. If it gets into the kelp, it’s probably pretty pervasive in all the other organisms in the community.
The Rest…HERE
