Record Details
Trace Levels of Fukushima Disaster Radionuclides in East Pacific Albacore
ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Title | Trace Levels of Fukushima Disaster Radionuclides in East Pacific Albacore |
| Names |
Neville, Delvan R.
(creator) Phillips, A. Jason (creator) Brodeur, Richard D. (creator) Higley, Kathryn A. (creator) |
| Date Issued | 2014-04-09 (iso8601) |
| Note | To the best of our knowledge, one or more authors of this paper were federal employees when contributing to this work. This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the American Chemical Society and can be found at: http://pubs.acs.org/journal/esthag. |
| Abstract | The Fukushima Daiichi power station released several radionuclides into the Pacific following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. A total of 26 Pacific albacore (Thunnus alalunga) caught off the Pacific Northwest U.S. coast between 2008 and 2012 were analyzed for ¹³⁷Cs and Fukushima-attributed ¹³⁴Cs. Both 2011 (2 of 2) and several 2012 (10 of 17) edible tissue samples exhibited increased activity concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs (234−824 mBq/kg of wet weight) and ¹³⁴Cs (18.2−356 mBq/kg of wet weight). The remaining 2012 samples and all pre-Fukushima (2008−2009) samples possessed lower ¹³⁷Cs activity concentrations (103−272 mBq/kg of wet weight) with no detectable ¹³⁴Cs activity. Age, as indicated by fork length, was a strong predictor for both the presence and concentration of ¹³⁴Cs (p < 0.001). Notably, many migration-aged fish did not exhibit any ¹³⁴Cs, suggesting that they had not recently migrated near Japan. None of the tested samples would represent a significant change in annual radiation dose if consumed by humans. |
| Genre | Article |
| Identifier | Neville, D. R., Phillips, A. J., Brodeur, R. D., & Higley, K. A. (2014). Trace Levels of Fukushima Disaster Radionuclides in East Pacific Albacore. Environmental Science & Technology, 48(9), 4739-4743. doi:10.1021/es500129b |
