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Training Workshop on Marine Radioactivity

In August 2024 the Center for Marine Environmental Radioactivity along with partners hosted a successful 4-day training workshop on marine radioactivity with participants from around the world. Watch out for a call for applications in another two years! WHO: University students, early career scientists and other professionals who are interest in radioactivity in the marine…

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Minimizing harm: the concrete option for Fukushima tanks waste

Minimizing Harm: the concrete option for solving the accumulation of radioactively contaminated water at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant site A paper prepared by the Independent Expert Panel to the Pacific Islands Forum Dr. Arjun Makhijani, Dr. Ferenc (Jacob Rolf) Dalnoki Veress, Dr. Robert Richmond, Dr. Anthony Hooker, Dr. Ken Buesseler12 June 2023 Abstract:…

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More data needed before ocean water release of Fukushima water

A new commentary in the Japan Times by Ken Buesseler, highlights that the full extent of the radioactive isotopes in water in the tanks stored  at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant require more study before the water is dumped into the ocean. The Nuclear Regulatory Authority last month announced its approval for the discharge…

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Addressing contaminants from Fukushima and the risks of ocean dumping

A fresh look at seawater stored in tanks on the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant site indicates that more research and analyses are needed prior to releasing the water back to the ocean. Nearly 10 years after the Tohoku-oki earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan’s Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant and triggered an unprecedented release radioactivity…

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Understanding Risks of Radioactive Effluent at San Onofre, CA

Surfrider is a non-profit foundation dedicated to the protectoin and enjoyment of the world’s ocean, waves and beaches for all people. They have begun a campaign to “Get Nuclear Waste Off California’s Coast” and interviewed Ken Buesseler about liquid effluent being released from the now-closed San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant: How worried should we be?…

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The US government tested nuclear weapons on a chain of islands in the 1950s: A new project will allow locals to take their own samples

“Marine radiochemist Ken Buesseler is on a quest to provide fresh answers about how much radiation remains on the [Marshall] islands. “What we want to scientifically understand is, how is [radioactivity] going up or down over time, over the years and decades?” Buesseler said. He’s setting out this November to teach a duo of Marshalese…

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Putting the ‘nuclear coffin’ in perspective

Marine chemist weighs in on leaking radioactive dome in the Pacific By Evan Lubofsky There has been a flurry of headlines this summer about a “nuclear coffin” leaking radioactive waste into the Pacific Ocean. The coffin—a bomb crater filled with radioactive soil on a tiny island in the Marshall Islands—sits under a 350-foot-wide concrete lid…

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BBC interview on radioactivity at the Marshall Islands

The Marshall Islands have some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, but their past as a former US nuclear weapons test site means that hardly anyone lives there. Ken Buesseler, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, describes the Runit Dome that was constructed to hold up to 80,000 tonnes of radioactive debris. LISTEN to an…

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June 16 – What we Talk About when we Talk About Radiation

12:00 Japan Time Station 28; 36N, 141.4E It’s been a while since I’ve seen a newspaper or checked the internet, but I seem to remember a fair bit of confusion in the media over how radiation is measured before we left. So here goes nothing. The most basic radiation detector provides its readings in counts.…

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June 12 – Tracers II

12:00 Japan Time Station 18; 37N, 143E We’ll come back to tracers in a bit. There are a couple of changes to report, first. For one, the weather has eased considerably. Seas are easy and the sun is just barely shining through a hazy sky. About the only wind out there is whatever we can…

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June 8 – Connections

6:30 a.m. Japan Time Station 4; 35.50N, 147E Today is World Ocean Day. Sort of snuck up on me because the ship sort of exists outside of time and I’m not really looking at my calendar except to label my blog posts. Hard to imagine a more fitting place to spend the day. We now…

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