Dartmouth Scientists Track Radioactive Iodine from Japan Nuclear Reactor Meltdown
Published: April 2, 2012. Dartmouth College
Radioactive iodine found by Dartmouth researchers in the local New Hampshire environment is a direct consequence of a nuclear reactor's explosion and meltdown half a world away, says Joshua Landis, a research associate in the Department of Earth Science. The failure of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility, following the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami, was the largest nuclear disaster since 1986 at Chernobyl. "We live on a really small planet and this demonstrates that what happens in Japan has the potential to affect us."
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The paper reports that testing in New Hampshire's Mink Brook watershed during March through May 2011 showed the amount of radioactive iodine deposition in the soil was minimal, with calculations revealing the total amount to be on the order of 6,000 atoms per square meter. Landis comments that "at these levels, it is unlikely that this is going to cause measurable health consequences."
However, sampling of Mink Brook stream sediments showed a doubling of iodine concentrations relative to what was found in soils. But even in these concentrations, stream and river transport are expected to result in significant dilution....
