24 Mar 2011

Radiation traces from Japan detected in Hawaii

9:24 am on 24 March 2011

Officials in Hawaii say trace amounts of radiation from Japan's nuclear crisis have been detected in the US state for the first time.

The US Environmental Protection Agency says a monitor on the roof of the state Health Department building on Oahu detected "minuscule levels" of an undetermined isotope consistent with the radiation release from the Fukushima plant in Japan.

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports the agency says the isotope was far below any level of concern for human health.

The EPA says the levels of radiation from Japan are 100,000 times lower than the radiation received from taking a round-trip international flight.

It says in the past few days similar small amounts of radioactive particles have been detected in Seattle, San Fransico and other locations in California.

University of Hawaii professor John Learned says the radiation will eventually be carried everywhere in the world by wind and the sea.