Canadian Gov’t: “There’s going to be radiation from Fukushima for years to come… Testing will never stop” — US Gov’t: There’s no reason to believe radioactive plume coming to West Coast
ENENews.com
February 21st, 2014
Coast Reporter (B.C., Canada), John Gleeson, Feb. 21, 2014 (emphasis added): [Sean Upton, a senior media relations officer] said Health Canada scientists tested 28 fish samples provided last year by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and no radiation from Fukushima was detected […] While the testing was not part of a formal research study, and was described by Health Canada as an ad hoc technical exercise, Upton said it was also linked to research on the transport of Fukushima radiation to B.C. coastal waters, first measured by DFO at “barely detectable” levels in June 2013. […] Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs joined other First Nation leaders in calling for Ottawa to start conducting regular testing of domestic Pacific seafood. […] While regular testing is not being contemplated at this time, that will change if circumstances warrant it, [Upton] said.
Sean Upton, Health Canada media relations: “[Testing was done] partly because there was a hypothesis that radiation from Fukushima was making its way to the West Coast and West Coast fish […] What we’ve seen so far presents no health risk […] If increased radiation is found in the waters in 2014 or 2015, then more testing would be done, as needed. We know there’s going to be radiation from Fukushima for years to come. The testing will never stop.”
Santa Cruz ‘Good Times’, Feb. 20, 2014: Q: Is there a new wave of radioactive materials moving toward the West Coast from Japan this year? A: In recent months, some news outlets have published information suggesting that a second “plume” of radioactivity is making its way across the Pacific Ocean and could be arriving along the Canadian and California coastline this year. Bill Keener, [public affairs official for the EPA’s San Francisco region], says there is no reason to believe a second plume is coming. “The event in March of 2011 released the accumulated gases in the reactors, which sent a bubble of radiation through the water and air,” he says. “No such accumulation should be occurring today.”
