Trace amounts of radiation from damaged nuclear-power facilities in Japan have been detected in rainwater in the U.S., but pose no health risks, officials said.
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Nevada and other Western states are among the states that have reported minuscule amounts of radiation.
Nuclear-plant operators Progress Energy Inc. and Duke Energy Corp. in North Carolina and South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. also said they have detected trace amounts of radiation.
Nuclear experts and health officials said there is no public-health risk. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said people are exposed to much more radiation on an international airline flight.
Progress Energy said it picked up low levels of iodine-131, a radioactive byproduct of nuclear fission, at its nuclear plant in South Carolina and a Florida plant.
Pennsylvania government officials said follow-up testing over the weekend showed normal levels of radioactivity in public-drinking water.
Gov. Tom Corbett said Monday the tests were performed after rainwater samples collected on Friday at the state's nuclear-power plants registered very low concentrations of radiation, apparently from the Japanese nuclear plant damaged by an earthquake and tsunami.
Testing over the weekend was performed in six regions of Pennsylvania. Gov. Corbett said there's no risk to the public, and state agencies will continue to monitor the situation.
Health officials said Sunday that one sample of Massachusetts rainwater registered very low concentrations of radiation, most likely from the Japanese nuclear-power plant damaged earlier this month by an earthquake and tsunami.
John Auerbach, the Massachusetts commissioner of public health, said that iodine-131 found in the sample—one of more than 100 that have been taken around the country—is short lived. He said the drinking-water supply in the state was unaffected and officials do not expect any health concerns.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health said the in-state sample was taken in the past week, but they did not say where. The testing is part of an EPA network that monitors for radioactivity.
Massachusetts testing last week of samples from the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs showed no detectable levels of I-131, health officials said.
Posted By: Siebra Muhammad
Monday, March 28th 2011 at 3:07PM
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