Orange Country Register – by ERIKA I. RITCHIE
Anyone wondering about radiation found in kelp along the West Coast can check out the latest details on a new website.
Steve Manley, a biology professor at Cal State Long Beach, just launched Kelp Watch 2014 at kelpwatch.berkeley.edu. The site will update readers on how much radiation is found in kelp growing in the waters off California, Oregon, Washington, Alaska and British Columbia. The website will be updated as data come in.
The kelp is expected to show cesium levels starting as early as this summer, which is when radioactive seawater contaminated by the tsunami- and earthquake-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan is expected to hit beaches from Mexico to Alaska. Manley has launched his scientific study with help from more than 30 universities and labs on the West Coast and in Hawaii, Guam, Mexico and Chile. In all, 42 sites will be sampled, including 32 in California waters, three times this year.
The project recently received funding from USC’s Sea Grant Program and California State University’s Council on Ocean Affairs, Science and Technology. The first kelp sample was taken Feb. 5 from Bodega Bay in Northern California.
Scientists will study the extent of contamination in the ocean’s kelp forests. The kelp will be dried and ground, and scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will test it for radiation levels.
Manley launched the project to keep the public up to date on radiation in kelp along California beaches. In Orange County, kelp is found along beaches with rock outcroppings in spots such as Corona del Mar, Crystal Cove, Laguna Beach and Dana Point.
There is a large bed of kelp that blankets ocean water from the San Clemente Pier to beaches at Camp Pendleton, including near the now-decommissioned San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.
The project follows an earlier study Manley did on kelp shortly after the Fukushima reactor accident in March 2011. In that study, he discovered short-lived radioactive iodine in kelp just a month after the accident.
That radioactivity came over from Japan by steam released into the atmosphere from the crippled reactor. While radioactivity from rain was low, there were measurable amounts in the ocean plants. Manley said while radioactive iodine has a short life, he detected levels of it in the kelp for at least a month after the reactor accident.
Manley found the largest concentration was 250-fold higher than before the accident. Samples taken a month later showed no detectable radiation. Manley said the radiation had no known effect on kelp, fish or marine life.
Still, after his study published, emails flooded his inbox and calls rang from surfers and beachgoers from Japan and Australia, asking if being in the ocean or eating seafood posed risks. Public concern prompted him to undertake the new study.
“As every year passes, it becomes more diluted, but it also becomes more widespread,” he said. “People should know the amount of radioactive material in the kelp.”
Manley has been swamped with emails since he announced his latest study a few weeks ago. People are volunteering to collect along the entire West Coast.
Manley said he also will study related brown seaweed found in Hawaii and Guam. Contaminated seawater may have already reached those locations.
A site in Chile not expected to be affected by radiation from Fukushima will be used as a control site in the study.
Contact the writer: 949-492-5152 or eritchie@ocregister.com or twitter.com/lagunaini
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/kelp-602159-manley-study.html