Japan, Guam notified of radioactive seepage from US sub: navy
WASHINGTON, Saturday, (AFP)
The Pentagon has notified local authorities that trace amounts of
radioactivity may have seeped out of a US nuclear missile submarine
during a cruise that included stops in Japan and Guam, navy officials
said Friday.
An investigation determined that the amount of radioactivity that
seeped from a valve was less than half a microcurie, or less than what
one would find in a 50-pound bag of lawn fertilizer, a senior US Navy
official said.
“Any time there is any discharge or leakage of radioactivity, or
radioactive water, no matter how small, we report it to local
authorities,” the official said.
Japan and Guam were notified of the discovery on Thursday, the
official said. The seepage was detected on July 17 when a gallon of
water that had collected in a pipe connected to the nuclear engineering
plant spilled onto a sailor while the submarine was in drydock in
Honolulu, Hawaii, the official said.
Tests of the sailor showed no radioactivity, but the incident
triggered an investigation that led to a valve inside the pipe that was
“weeping at a small rate,” the official said.
The state of Hawaii was notified on July 25, he said. |