The Environmental Protection Agency confirmed Monday that one of its monitors found trace amounts of the radioactive particle Iodine-131 in Honolulu’s air last week.
In an email to Civil Beat, EPA spokesman Dean Higuchi said the findings were “still thousands of times below levels of concern.” The radioactive isotope is consistent with particles being released by the damaged Japanese nuclear power plant.
The detailed analysis came after a RadNet air monitor in Honolulu picked up a “minuscule increase” in radiation on March 21. The charcoal sampling filter from the monitor was sent to the EPA’s national radiation lab in Alabama to find out which isotope was present.
Iodine-131 has a half life of eight days. In other words, when the radioactive particles reach Hawaii after a week-long journey from Japan, half of them stabilize and are no longer harmful.
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