Seaward cesium

Levels of radioactive cesium have been found to be higher on Japanese beaches 60 miles from Fukushima’s meltdown-plagued nuclear power plant than in samples taken in the facility’s harbor.

Scientists believe the cesium-137 was carried by currents and absorbed in distant sandy beaches soon after the 2011 nuclear disaster.

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researcher Ken Buesseler says the sand acted as a sponge that soaked up the contamination, which is being slowly depleted.