來自福島核災難的輻射接近加州海岸

Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Monday said they had detected cesium 134—radioactive fallout from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear meltdown—about 100 miles offshore of the Northern California town of Eureka.

來自伍茲霍爾海洋研究所的科學家在星期一表示，他們已經檢測到源於2011年的福島核危機的銫134的放射性沉降物，已經到達加利福尼亞北部100英里的Eureka小鎮近海。

But don't freak out.

但是不要被嚇到了

"This Fukushima-derived cesium is far below where one might expect any measurable risk to human health or marine life, according to international health agencies," the scientists said in a statement. The levels were 1,000 lower than the limits for drinking water set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, they said.

“國際健康機構表示，這些由福島泄露的銫對人類健康或海洋生物其造成的實際危害風險，遠遠小於之前人們的估計。”科學家們在一份聲明中這樣表示。放射性物質的含量只有由美國環境保護署規定的飲用水指標的一千分之一，他們說。

In an "Ask Me Anything" post on Reddit on Monday morning, Ken Buesseler, a Woods Hole marine scientist, said that if a person swam for six hours a day, 365 days a year, off Eureka, the radiation exposure would still be a thousand times less than what a person would be exposed to from a single dental X-Ray.

在星期一上午紅迪網上的“知道求助”頁面上，Ken Buesseler，伍茲霍爾海洋科學家，表示如果說一個人一天游泳遊了六小時，一年遊了365天，在Eureka小鎮的沿海進行的話，暴露在其下所受到的輻射仍然只有在牙科中做一次X光的照射所受到的輻射的千分之一。

Since the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, the radiation dispersed from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant accident has been making its way across the Pacific Ocean. The power plant meltdown released unprecedented amounts of radioactive elements into the ocean, with cesium 134 traces in waters off Japan's coast tens of millions of times higher than what Buesseler and his team have found here.

自2011年3月地震和海嘯以來，從福島第一核電廠事故中散發出來的核輻射物質已經跨越了太平洋。核電廠熔爐熔燬泄露放前所未有的大量的放射性元素進入海洋，銫134的蹤跡顯示在日本海岸線附近的水域該放射性物質的含量比科學家Buesseler和他的團隊所發現的含量高出一千萬倍。

"When cesium levels are in the 10's millions, there are possible direct impacts on mortality and reproductive ability of marine life," Buesseler said on Reddit.

“當銫的含量在千萬水平的時候，這可能會對海洋生物的繁殖能力和死亡率有直接的影響，”Buesseler在紅迪網上說。

Those concerns prompted Japanese officials to close fisheries and impose some of the strictest radiation testing on food products in the world.

這些問題促使日本政府關閉漁業和對食品產品實施最嚴格的一些放射性物質檢測。

In the U.S., scientists have been measuring Fukushima-influenced radioactivity in kelp forests off Southern California, fish caught from San Diego to Seattle, and Wood Hole has been monitoring water samples from Alaska to Mexico.

在美國，科學家們測量了被福島核輻射影響的加利福尼亞南部的海帶森林，以及從聖地亞哥捕到西雅圖獲的魚，並且伍茲霍爾海洋研究所監控從阿拉斯加地區延伸到墨西哥的水樣本

Buesseler said the Eureka offshore sample was the only one that showed traces of cesium 134.

Buesseler說尤里卡小鎮是沿海樣品中唯一一個發現銫134的蹤跡的地方。

So when do scientists expect the radiation to reach the West Coast?

因此科學家預計核輻射什麼時候到達美國西海岸？

"We don't know exactly when the Fukushima isotopes will be detectable closer to shore because the mixing of offshore surface waters and coastal waters is hard to predict," Buesseler said in a statement.

“我們不知道什麼時候福島核原料的同位素將更靠近海岸以致可被檢測到，因爲地表水和沿海水域的海洋混合之後是很難預測的，”Buesseler在一份聲明中說。

While the detected levels are well below those deemed harmful to humans, models predicting how much radiation could be along the West Coast suggest cesium levels will increase over the next two to three years.

儘管檢測到的水平遠遠低於那些被認爲對人體有害的程度，然而數據模型預測沿着西海岸的輻射量表明銫的含量將在未來兩到三年增加。

Buesseler said careful and consistent monitoring of the water is needed to keep tabs on the radiation.

Buesseler說，監視輻射的狀態需要謹慎和持續對水質的測量才行。

"We need both citizen scientists to keep up the coastal monitoring network, but also research vessels and comprehensive studies offshore like this one, that are too expensive for the average citizen to support," he said.

“我們既需要平民科學家保持沿海監測網絡的工作狀態，也需要像之前提到的職業科研人員和海上綜合性研究，但是這種形式的研究對於普通國民來說負擔太重了，”他說。