Radioactive fallout in the United States due to the Fukushima nuclear plant accident

Abstract

The release of radioactivity into the atmosphere from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant started on March 12th, 2011. Among the various radionuclides released, iodine -131 (¹³¹I) and cesium isotopes (¹³⁷Cs and ¹³⁴Cs) were transported across the Pacific Ocean and reached the United States on 17–18 March 2011. Consequently, an elevated level of fission products ¹³¹I, ¹³²I, ¹³²Te, ¹³⁴Cs and ¹³⁷Cs were detected in air, water, and milk samples collected across the United States between March 17 and April 4, 2011. The continuous monitoring of activities over a period of 25 days and spatial variations across more than 100 sampling locations in the United States made it possible to characterize the contaminated air masses. For the entire period, the highest detected activity values ranged from less than 1 m Bq m⁻³ to 31 m Bq m⁻³ for the particulate ¹³¹I, and up to 96 m Bq m⁻³ for the gaseous ¹³¹I fraction.