A week after a 9.0-magnitude earthquake hit Japan, causing widespread destruction and seriously damaging a Japanese nuclear reactor, Gov. Jerry Brown and other officials on both the state and federal levels sought to quell public concerns over impacts of radiation from the deteriorating reactors.

“As this very tragic situation in Japan unfolds, I want Californians to know that we are closely monitoring any potential impact on our state. I also want to emphasize that there is no threat to the people of California due to radiation in Japan,” said Brown.

The assurances came on Friday, the same day that the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy issued a joint statement reporting that no radiation levels of concern have reached the United States by the U.S. Government's extensive network of radiation monitors.

However, as part of that report, the agencies acknowledged that a monitoring system in Sacramento that feeds into the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization’s International Monitoring System detected miniscule quantities of the radioactive isotope xenon-133. The origin was determined to be consistent with a release from the Fukushima reactors in Northern Japan.

The levels detected were approximately 0.1 disintegrations per second per cubic meter of air, which results in a dose rate approximately one-millionth of the dose rate that a person normally receives from rocks, bricks, the sun and other natural background sources, according to the report.

EPA and the Department of Energy reported that Xenon-133 is a radioactive noble gas produced during nuclear fission that poses no concern at the detected level.

The Sacramento detection validated a similar reading taken Wednesday and Thursday in Washington state. Officials said the readings remain consistent with their expectations since the onset of this situation in Japan.

Following the explosion of the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine in 1986 – the worst nuclear accident in world history – air monitoring in the United States also picked up trace amounts of radioactive particles, less than one thousandth of the estimated annual dose from natural sources for a typical person, based on the EPA and Department of Energy statement.

On Friday, Gov. Brown and the interim director of the California Department of Public Health, Dr. Howard Backer, assured Californians that public health and safety do not face any threat from radiation released at nuclear facilities in Japan this week.

“The California Department of Public Health and our Emergency Management Agency are in constant contact with the federal agencies responsible for monitoring radiation levels in California, and we will tell the public if any precautions become necessary. However, there is no cause for alarm,” Brown said.

Backer said the Department of Public Health takes the situation in Japan seriously, and is monitoring it very closely. “As both President Obama and Governor Brown have stated, there is no threat to California, and so people should not be taking precautionary health measures.”

He said potassium iodide is only appropriate for much higher levels of radiation that may be generated within close proximity to a nuclear source. “Using potassium iodide when inappropriate can result in significant side effects.”

The Lake County Air Quality Management District said there is no radiation monitoring taking place locally.

However, this week the EPA’s Radiation Emergency Response Team and EPA Region 9 reported that they were working with the California Air Resources Board and selected local air districts to enhance radiation monitoring capabilities in California should it become necessary to deploy additional samplers.

In California, fixed EPA RadNet stations are located in Anaheim, Bakersfield, Eureka, Fresno, Los Angeles, Riverside, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, the agency reported.

The EPA said air pollution control districts in Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, Mendocino County and the North Coast Unified Air Quality Management District were contacted for their permission to set up additional temporary monitors if needed.

Californians with questions about radiation exposure can contact the California Department of Public Health’s Emergency Operations information line at 916-341-3947.

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