Join us in our efforts to monitor the spread of radiation from Fukushima and its impact on the ocean

More than 7 years after the accident at Fukushima, questions remain about how much radioactive material was (and continues to be) released and how far and fast it dispersed in the Pacific. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and their Japanese collaborators have been gathering and testing samples, some from as close as 1/2 mile from the damaged reactors, since 2011.

Now they want to help people like me gather samples on the Pacific Coast of North America. I am trying to raise the funds needed to test the waters near me for traces of cesium-137, the most abundant radioactive isotope released. Any amount you give is tax-deductible and will help add to our knowledge about the movement of radioactive isotopes across the Pacific. If this sample is fully funded, please consider supporting another site—or you can propose that this location be sampled again later so we can monitor the Fukushima plume as it peaks over the next few years.