Radioactive Rain Reaches Massachusetts
MSNBC reports that “trace amounts of radioactive iodine linked to Japan’s crippled nuclear power station have turned up in rainwater samples as far away as Massachusetts during the past week, state officials said Sunday.”
The low level of radioiodine-131 detected in precipitation at a sample location in Massachusetts is comparable to findings in California, Washington state and Pennsylvania and poses no threat to drinking supplies, public health officials said.
Testing of air samples from the same area in Massachusetts that the water reading came from show no radiation is detecable.
“The drinking water supply in Massachusetts is unaffected by this short-term, slight elevation in radiation,” said Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach.
“We will carefully monitor the drinking water as we exercise an abundance of caution,” he said.Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Richard K. Sullivan Jr. directed the Department of Environmental Protection to collect additional samples for testing from several water bodies across Massachusetts. Results will be available over the next several days.
At concentrations found, the radioiodine-131 would likely become undetectable in a “relative short time,” according to a statement issued by agency.
Please, make your voice heard and let Congress and President Obama know that it is time to take nuclear power in the United States off the grid — forever.