Letter: DEC claims radio-isotope tests find nothing in Alaskan seafood

To the editor:

The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (AK DEC) said, "seafood samples from Alaska waters in 2016 tested negative for ... radioactive isotopes: iodine-131, cesium-134 & cesium-137" in ADN article 1/10/17 by Chris Klint. However, commercially important fish were tested, but not crabs, seabirds, whales and other sea mammals, and there was no testing for strontium-90 in any seafood. So, I asked our AK DEC, "Why has seafood not been tested for strontium-90, and why have crabs, seabirds, whales not been tested at all?". Their director, Ms Carpenter, answered me in a letteron 2/15/17, saying, "Crabs were not tested because, the currents moving the radiation were at the surface, not deep for benthic creatures", and that FDA protocol does not require strontium-90 testing, unless high levels of cesium-137 are found.

But, juvenile crabs are not benthic, but swim with plankton, and are carried by north Pacific and sub-polar currents from Japan to California, up to Alaska, and back to Japan, where they may pick up another dose of radioactivity, and so on. Even as adults, crabs eat fish parts that fall down from the surface water, and they eat other crabs that have eaten fish parts from surface water. So, the statement by AK DEC is nonsense!

Since 2011, strontium-90 has been increasing and bio-accumulating in seafood, because it is mistaken for calcium by the body, and stored as part of the mineral compliment of bones. With its 28.79 year half-life, more and more strontium-90 may be eaten and added to what has already been stored. It is further concentrated in bones, as it goes up the food chain from fish to seabirds, crabs, whales, and humans. It causes bone cancer, and leukemia, especially in people, who eat mostly seafood, and especially in children, because their bones are growing. So, strontium-90 testing is indicated, especially in crabs, seabirds, whales, and other seafood, which are high on the food chain.

King crab numbers have been declining fast, especially Blue King Crab living around Pribilov and St. Mathews Islands, which are nearer Japan.

Although FDA protocol to not require strontium-90 testing, unless high levels of cesium-137 are found is reasonable for one-time radioactivity releases, this is a continuous nuclear radioactivity release! A senior researcher of marine chemistry at Japan Meteorological Research Institute says, “30 billion becquerels of radioactive cesium and 30 billion, becquerels of radioactive strontium are being released into the Pacific Ocean from Fukushima every single day"! Therefore, this FDA protocol is not applicable in this case.

The Fukushima-Daiichi reactor fuel is melting-down through its containment and reading over 530 Sievert/hour, right now. That is 7 times higher than the 73 Sievert/hour that they measured in 2011 after the nuclear accident. and TEPCO said, then, that it would take at least 40 years to de-commission those reactors! So, I believe that de-commissioning by removing fuel rods is not possible, anymore.

AK DEC stated (in above ADN article), "We weren't expecting to detect anything, and we haven't ..., Brewer said". This statement shows what a strong bias they harbored prior to testing, and that their experimental data collection may not have been done with a neutral mind. I believe, DEC and FDA know that strontium-90 already exists in Alaskan seafood, but they're not sharing. I think, it is a goal of AK DEC and FDA to find no radioactivity in any seafood testing, and to engineer all testing to accomplish this goal, because their testing procedure detected only gamma rays, but not beta particles, which are emitted by strontium-90, which is far more dangerous long-term than cesium-137. Why do they refuse to test King Crabs, seabirds, and whales? Does FDA and DEC care about protecting the health of Native Alaskans, who eat mostly subsistence seafoods? Is AK DEC taking advantage of our ignorance about radiation biology to protect commercial fishing interests, as their first priority?

Please e-mail AK DEC at: DEC.Commissioner@alaska.gov to ask such questions and to demand more comprehensive radioactive isotope testing, including strontium-90, of all seafood, including crabs, whales, seabirds. If, indeed, our seafood is still safe to consume, we need this more comprehensive and objective testing to know as soon as radioactivity levels become unsafe.

— Daniel N. Russell, physics consultant

Anchorage