Japan finds radioactive cesium in slaughtered minke whales
TOKYO, June 15 (AFP) — Japanese whale hunters have found traces of radioactive caesium in two of the ocean giants recently harpooned off its shores in the Pacific Ocean, a fisheries agency official said Wednesday. Two minke whales culled off the northern island of Hokkaido showed readings of 31 becquerels and 24.3 becquerels of caesium per kilogram, he said, adding that the cause may be the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant. The level is far below the country’s recently-set maximum safe limit for seafood of 500 becquerels per kilogram, he said. “There is no data available to compare whether the readings for radioactive materials are higher than normal,” he said. “We will continue to monitor the development, as we do for all seafood and marine life” that is caught off the Pacific coast, he said. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has leaked radioactive water into the Pacific since it was battered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, which disabled cooling systems, triggering reactor meltdowns and explosions. The Japanese public and some marine life experts have voiced fears that radioactive material in the sea can concentrate among large marine creatures at the top of the food chain that live for a long time. …
Japan finds radiation traces in whales
Radioactive caesium was detected from two minke whales caught off a city on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, 650 kilometres north-east of a damaged nuclear plant, a news report said Tuesday. Researchers examined six of the 17 whales during so-called research whaling in Kushiro city, which started this year’s season in late April, and they detected 31 becquerels and 24.3 becquerels of radioactive caesium per kilogram in the two whales out of the six, Kyodo News reported citing a whalers’ association said, DPA reported. While the level of the radioactive substances remained below the limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram, the association officials told a news conference in the city that the contamination must have been caused by the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Kyodo reported. Since the plant was damaged by a magnitude-9 earthquake and ensuing tsunami on March 11, it has leaked radioactive substances into the environment. In 1987, Japan halted commercial whaling, complying with an international moratorium that went into effect in 1986. Japan, however, has used a loophole in the accord to continue whaling under the premise of conducting scientific research.
