Japanese radiation now in British Columbia

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 29 (UPI) -- Radiation from Japan's damaged nuclear reactors is showing up on Canada's west coast, but isn't hazardous to humans, researchers at Simon Fraser University say.

Nearly three weeks after the March 11 magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami battered Japan and the six-reactor nuclear plant in Fukushima, researchers in Vancouver say the jet stream has carried radioactive iodine-131 to British Columbia, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported.

SFU nuclear scientist Kris Starosta told the CBC that type of radiation loses half of its strength every eight days before becoming inert.

"As of now, the levels we're seeing are not harmful to humans," Starosta said. "We're basing this on Japanese studies following the Chernobyl incident in 1986 where levels of iodine-131 were four times higher than what we've detected in our rainwater so far."

He said the radiation was found in rain and seawater and was accumulating in seaweed.

Starosta said the radiation will continue showing up in British Columbia for as long as a month after the leaks are stopped in Fukushima, the report said.