US: Universities monitoring radiation from Japan

The amount of radioactive material reaching the West Coast of the US from Japan's crippled nuclear reactors is dropping off sharply but the information does not come from government agencies. The most complete picture of the isotopes wafting across the Pacific is from university scientists, writes Sandi Doughton in the Seattle Times.

A team at the University of Washington in Seattle rigged up a detection system as soon as it became clear that the Japanese reactors were damaged, as even minute quantities of radioactive material can interfere with physics experiments. The scientists have shared their full results with the public - including the newest measurements that show levels are now a tenth of what they were on 20 March, when concentrations of radioactive material peaked in Seattle.

Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley have also been posting daily air readings, and conducting their own tests on milk, produce and drinking water. Kai Vetter, a Berkeley professor of nuclear engineering, said many people realise it is the only source of hard data.
Full report on the Seattle Times site