Fukushima Shows No Effect On Canadian Caught Albacoreff
11 October 2013
Canada
Raising concerns of contamination of tuna caught in the eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO) has urged scientists to carry out assessments of Canadian caught Pacific albacore tuna to assure the public that no radiation is present in the fish. All 2013 samples were found to have levels below the lowest detection limits.
The Canadian Highly Migratory Species Foundation has monitored levels of radioactivity in Canadian albacore from the EPO since 2010, the year prior to the Fukushima plant incident in Japan that raised alarms of radioactive contamination of surrounding waters.
From 2010 up until this year, none of the samples tested have been found to contain levels of radiation even close to what is regarded as dangerous. In fact, all of the examined fish had levels of contamination so low that the Gamma Spectroscopy technology used could not detect it.
Both stored product and fresh product were tested for lodine-131, Cesium-134 and Cesium-137, the three main radioactive isotopes released during the Fukushima incident.
The Japanese nuclear power plant, Fukushima was damaged during the tsunami of March 2011. The damage caused equipment failures that were followed by nuclear meltdowns and releases of radioactive materials.
