Caption to this photo:”In this Saturday, April 2, 2011 photo released by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), leaking radioactive contaminated water drain through crack of a maintenance pit, right, into the sea, near the Unit 2 reactor of Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear nuclear power plant in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, northeastern Japan. (Tokyo Electric Power Co.)”
Japanese engineers were forced on Monday to release radioactive water into the sea while resorting to desperate measures such as using bath salts to try to find the source of leaks at a crippled nuclear power complex hit by a tsunami on March 11.
Engineers also planned to build two giant “silt curtains” made of polyester fabric in the sea to hinder the spread of more contamination from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.
The plant operator released low-level radioactive seawater that had been used to cool overheated fuel rods after it ran out of storage capacity for more highly contaminated water, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said.
“We have instructed strict monitoring of the ocean to firmly grasp the impact on the environment,” said Edano.
Radioactive iodine 4,800 times the legal limit was recorded in the sea off the plant last week. The contamination later fell to 11 times, but spiked to 630 times the legal limit on Saturday, said Japan’s Nuclear and Industry Safety Authority.
“We need to stop the spread of (contaminated water) into the ocean as soon as possible. With that strong determination, we are asking Tokyo Electric Power Co to act quickly,” said Edano.
“If the current situation continues for a long time, accumulating more radioactive substances, it will have a huge impact on the ocean.”
Meanwhile, concerns continue to rise about impacts beyond Japan.
Once in seawater, radiation can hurt ocean animals in several ways—by killing them outright, creating “bizarre mutations” in their offspring, or passing radioactive material up the food chain, according to Joseph Rachlin, director of Lehman College’s Laboratory for Marine and Estuarine Research in New York City.
“There will be a potential for a certain amount of lethality of living organisms, but that’s less of a concern than the possible effects on the genetics of the animals that become exposed,” Rachlin said.
“That’s the main problem as I see it with radiation—altering the genetics of the animal and interfering with reproduction.”
Even so, according to radioecologist F. Ward Whicker, the concentrations of iodine and cesium levels “would have to be orders of magnitude larger than the numbers I’ve seen to date to cause the kind of radiation doses to marine life that would cause mortality or reductions in reproductive potential.
“I am very doubtful that direct effects of radioactivity from the damaged reactors on marine life over a large area off the coast of Japan will be observed,” Whicker, professor emeritus at Colorado State University, said via email.
Meanwhile, Radiation fears in the US have left dealers struggling to keep up with demand for “anti-radiation” products. Potassium Iodide pills, which can provide enough iodine to block absorption of the radioactive isotope, Iodine 131, have disappeared from shelves and are back ordered across the US. As a substitute, consumers are turning to other sources of bio-available iodine, such as seaweed, prompting a rush on those products.
Korean markets in the Bay Area are running out of seaweed, reports the Korea Times. That’s because Korean-American consumers are rushing to buy seaweed, kelp and dried laver — all products that contain iodine, which they believe will protect them from possible radiation exposure from Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.
Potassium iodide is used by the body to produce thyroid hormones, and can block radioactive iodine from being taken into the thyroid gland in the aftermath of nuclear disasters, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, public health officials have cautioned the public not to take potassium iodide right now as the chances of harmful levels of radiation reaching California from Japan are slim, and the substance can cause serious side effects, including vomiting and bleeding.
What’s more, experts say, natural foods containing iodine do not supply enough of it to prevent radioactive contamination.
But many shoppers are rushing to supermarkets anyway — so many that stores are having trouble keeping the shelves stocked.