Fukushima radiation reaches Nova Scotia
Posted Apr 14, 2011 02:57:13 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nova Scotia is seeing traces of radiation from the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan.
“We’re showing, and have been for a few weeks, that very very small amounts of radiation [are] coming from Japan,” says Dr. Robert Strang, Nova Scotia’s Chief Public Health Officer.
But there’s no need for concern, Strang says, because “our total level radiation is still within what we normally detect on a regular basis.”
Nova Scotia is part of a network of sites run by Health Canada that regularly moniters radiation. On March 18th, Health Canada announced it would open an extra nine stations in British Columbia to “bolster its existing network of monitoring stations” after the disaster at Fukushima on March 11th.
Even if the situation in Japan were to worsen, all models indicate that Canada would not face dangerous levels of radiation. “Even if it was an incredible disaster on the scale of Chernobyl, we still wouldn’t see any significant impact here on Nova Scotia or in Canada,” says Strang.
Adds Strang, “we’re all exposed to radiation everyday from the sun and from various sources. What we’re detecting in Nova Scotia is far below any level that would cause any risk to human health.”
