Fukushima Follies Postcard

A Sockeye Salmon superimposed on a nuclear symbol and the entry from the Periodic Table of Elements for new element Salmonium-238. 6-7 of every salmon will be fissionable isotope Salmonium-235. Salted Salmonium-238, as LOX, can serve as a substitute fuel in reactors normally burning MOX fuels. Be careful what you eat. Add your own text. Every day 600 tons of highly radioactive water leaks from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor in Japan. That water eventually ends up in the ocean contaminating sea life which may be consumed by humans. An ocean current called the North Pacific Gyre is bringing Japanese radiation conveying the contaminated to the West Coast of North America. California and Alaska will likely suffer the worst effects. While many people assume that the ocean will dilute the Fukushima radiation, a previously-secret 1955 U.S. government report concluded that the ocean may not adequately dilute radiation from nuclear accidents, and there could be “pockets” and “streams” of highly-concentrated radiation. Last year, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory and 3 scientists from the GEOMAR Research Center for Marine Geosciences showed that radiation on the West Coast of North America could end up being 10 times higher than in Japan. And a team of top Chinese scientists has just published a study in the Science China Earth Sciences journal showing that Fukushima nuclear pollution is becoming more concentrated as it approaches the West Coast of the United States, that the plume crosses the ocean in a nearly straight line toward North America, and that it appears to stay together with little dispersion. It may still prove necessary to evacuate millions of Japanese from their country. Where would they go?