The Fate of Fukushima

A technician takes a mud core sample aboard the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) research vessel Tansei Maru in May 2012. Following up on his initial research cruise to the waters off of Fukushima in June 2011, WHOI marine geochemist Ken Buesseler returned to the Northwest Pacific a year after an earthquake and tsunami caused the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant to release unprecendented levels of radioactive material to the ocean. His work on the fate of radioisostopes in the marine environment continues to answer critical public health and fisheries questions.(Photo by Ken Buesseler, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)