Radiation in Japan’s seas may not be long-term threat

RADIATION from fish and lobsters near Sellafield suggest radioactive material dumped into the sea from Japan’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant isn’t a long-term health threat, scientists said.

The Sellafield nuclear waste plant in Cumbria has discharged about 44 times more Cesium-137, one of the most harmful radioactive materials to humans, into the Irish Sea since 1952 than what has leaked from the Japanese plant this month, based on data from both sites. Still, average radiation doses by seafood consumers near Sellafield over 15 years have been half the recommended limit, studies show.

The research suggests bans on Japanese seafood are unnecessary, said Richard Wakeford, professor of epidemiology at the University of Manchester’s Dalton Nuclear Institute.