Perfect timing as more and more tsunami debris from Japan arrive on our islands.
There’s been a dozen confirmed pieces of tsunami debris that has reached the shores of Hawaii and the West Coast but none of the debris has been found to be radioactive.
However, city, state and federal agencies are using extra caution when handling the debris.
DB Dunlap was doing research at Makai pier earlier this week, when he found the first confirmed piece of tsunami debris to reach Hawaiian waters.
"Couldn’t help but notice a giant blue box floating between me and rabbit island."
NOAA says that blue box was a seafood bin straight from Fukushima, japan
"Were you worried about radiation at all?"
"Never crossed my mind, it was only a couple a days later where there was a radiation person out here," said Dunlap.
Radiation detector
This past Friday the city got a portable device that will make it quicker to test potentially dangerous marine debris.
If suspicious debris were to wash ashore, lifeguards could wear a personal protective radiological detector that would alert them to stay away if necessary.
And trained experts could use this device to find out more about the threat.
"Not only do you know the amount of radiation that is being emitted from this source, but also know the isotope," explains Court Chambers, EMS Medical Analyst.
Knowing the isotope could help identify whether it is specific to the Fukushima nuclear plant.
"We’re not going come out one day and find a 10 foot wall of debris on the beach, what we are expecting is to continuously find debris on the beach that will be with us for a number of years," said John Cummings, Public Information Officer with the City Department of Emergency Management.
Multi-purpose machine
The detector could even identify other hazardous material unrelated to the tsunami like a chemical or biological poison, or even a bomb.
"That would help the professionals that would respond, have a better idea of what they’re dealing with," says Chambers.
"Now that I understand what’s going on here, I think it will be really, really, really useful and I’m really glad we got one," says Dunlap.
The price tag for the radiation detector was $15,000 but paid for with federal grants.
Federal and state agencies have similar technology and are working together to recover tsunami debris.
See the original article at: KHON2 Local News
