Radiation on US Marshall Islands is higher than at Chernobyl and Fukushima thanks to 65 nuke tests, study finds – The Sun

RADIATION on the US Marshall Islands is higher than in Chernobyl or Fukushima after nuclear tests carried out 70 years ago, a study has found.

Researchers at Columbia University tested soil on four uninhabited islands and discovered concentrations of nuclear isotopes "significantly" higher than those found at the sites of the two nuclear disasters.

The Marshall Islands is made up of a series of 29 atolls, a type of island formed of coral.

Between 1946 and 1958, the US conducted 67 nuclear tests across a number of the atolls, several of which remain uninhabited today.

David Krofcheck of the physics department at New Zealand's University of Auckland, told the Science Media Centre: “All of these measurements are important due to the potential for repopulation of at least some of the atolls in the Marshall Islands."

“Such measurements of the effects of nuclear weapons testing in the Marshall Islands must continue on a regular basis into the indefinite future."

Two of the atolls where the soil was analyzed — Bikini and Enewetak — were used as “ground-zero” for US nuclear tests.

The others, Rongelap and Utirik, were affected by radioactive fallout from the largest of the tests, conducted in 1954 and known as the Castle Bravo test.

The bomb detonated was around 1,000 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

'WELL ABOVE SAFETY NORMS'

The researchers said they aimed to “present a picture of current radiological conditions” in the region “by examining external gamma radiation and soil radionuclide activity concentrations.”

Their findings, which were published Monday in the journal PNAS, showed that gamma radiation in some areas was “well above” the legal exposure limit established in agreements between the US and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

In Bikini, plutonium concentrations were “up to 15–1,000 times higher than in samples from areas affected by the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters."

The experts also conducted tests on fruits found in the Marshall Islands, detecting levels of contamination on Bikini, Rongelap, and the island of Naen higher than safety levels established in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Japan.

Some even exceeded the more lax US standards.

“Foods tested, coconuts and pandanus, show a variety of radioactivity levels with the lowest levels detected in fruits from atolls farthest away from the weapons test sites,” said Krofcheck.

“Bikini Atoll had considerably larger levels, well above most international norms for food safety."

He added that research should be conducted on local sea food.

Despite the findings, exposure to environmental radioactivity at the levels detected is said to be low compared to other source, such as cosmic radiation at high altitudes and medical exposure.

Researchers added that radiation on the Marshal Islands has continued to decline since the cessation of nuclear testing in the region.

A version of this story originally appeared on News.com.au.

Source: Read Full Article