Asia-Pacific

Fiji safe from nuke leak in Japan: expert

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2011-03-20 09:32

SUVA- A scientist in the Suva-based University of the South Pacific (USP) has confirmed Fiji is out of danger from the reported nuclear radiation leak that posed a threat to Pacific island nations, local media Fiji Times Online reported here Sunday.

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Dr Atul Raturi, head of USP school of engineering and physics, was quoted as saying there was no connection between acid rain and nuclear fallout, or nuclear radiation caused by the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last week.

He clarified that acid rain did not have any relation with nuclear radiation. Instead, it was caused by pollution.

"The so-called acid rain occurs when gases like sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are released into the atmosphere where they can form sulfuric acid and nitric acid which is then mixed rain," said the USP scientist, adding "these gases are mainly produced by the usage of fossil fuels in electricity generation."

He further explained that "these chemicals can be moved hundreds of kilometers away from the source by prevailing wind. However, I do not think that Fiji and other Pacific island countries have too much to worry about the acid rain."

Raturi said in regards to the radiation leak in Japan, Fiji did not have anything to worry about, at least for now. "The movement of radiation cloud will be dictated by the wind direction current estimates show that it might move towards the U.S. west coast."

"In the unlikely event of the radiation cloud moving towards the Pacific islands, it would have largely dispersed before reaching us" and "radiation does not remain constant and if it were to come here, it will lose its potency by the time it reaches Fiji," he said.

"Only large doses and long period of radiation will have certain effects to the immune system," he reiterated.

Meanwhile, Fiji's weather office in western city of Nadi has confirmed that no warnings had been issued by international authorities on radiation possibly affecting Fiji.

Alipate Waqaicelua, Acting Director of Meteorology also told media that "the radiation from the nuclear plants is not going to come this far as it will only be around and closer to Japan."

"It won't even reach the islands of Guam and the Philippines and it's moving more towards the east than towards us," Waqaicelua said.

In response to recent e-mails circulated in the island nation warning parents not to allow their children outside if it rains, Waqaicelua stressed that the radiation, which was moving in the general direction of the United States, would not have any effect on the rainfall that Fiji may experience.