A fish caught near Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant that was severely damaged in a earthquake and tsunami two years ago, was found to have contained extremely high levels of radiation.
The Asahi Shimbun reported Friday that a greenling fish caught in a port near the nuclear plant on Feb. 17 was found contaminated with radioactive cesium levels 5,100 times above the Japanese government's standard, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).
TEPCO said the reading of 510,000 becquerels per kilogram in the greenling is the highest ever recorded in the utility’s seafood sampling surveys following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami at the nuclear plant.
A rockfish caught Feb. 15 in a cage net along a wharf in the port produced a reading of 277,000 becquerels per kilogram, said TEPCO.
The company put up a net in the harbor to trap contaminated marine life after detecting the higher-than-normal levels of cesium in fish and shellfish caught in the port.
The harbor seabed has been contaminated with radioactive substances since the disaster.
Get more interesting environment and science and space news. Also, follow along with the thousands of others for periodic weather updates, news and notes on Twitter.
Comments