The Fukushima Disaster

The Fukushima Daiichi Incident occurred on March 11, 2011. Just after a major earthquake, a tsunami disabled the cooling and power supply of three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. The three cores melted, resulting in high radioactive releases. This accident earned a rating of 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES). (1)

The government evacuated over 100,000 people from the area. Three plant employees were killed by the earthquake and tsunami, but there were no fatalities as a result of the nuclear accident. (1)

There were advisories from the government regarding contaminated seafood around Japan. Other consequences included toxic water, sludge, and rubble, as well as radioactive wild boars that attacked people in Japanese towns. (2)

However, very few guessed that the effects of the radiation would travel as far as California and end up in its products. French researchers believe that they have found radioactive traces from Fukushima in California wine. (2)

Wine Tested for Radioactive Materials

A group of French nuclear physicists tested 18 bottles of French cabernet sauvignon and rosé bottled in or after 2009. They said that there have been previous tests on wine made around the time of other nuclear events, such as Chernobyl. These wines test higher for cesium-137, a radioactive isotope that is not found in nature. (2)

The team has been examining wines from around the world. They attempt to connect the date the grapes were picked to the level of radioactive material in the wine. (2)

In the California wines that they tested, they found increased levels of radioactive materials in the ones produced after the Fukushima accident. The cabernet actually had double the usual amount of radioactive particles. (2)

“We can measure some radioactive level that is much higher than the usual level,” Michael Pravikoff, a French physicist who worked on the study, told the New York Times in July 2018. (2)

The idea to test the wines occurred to Pravikoff when he happened upon some bottles of California cabernet sauvignon in a market. They had been produced after Fukushima, and he was curious to see if he could find the disaster’s effect on the wine. (2)

No Health Hazard

Although it’s alarming that there is increased radioactive material in these wines, the scientists who conducted the study say not to worry. The wine is not a health hazard. (2)

“These levels are so low, way below the natural radioactivity that’s everywhere in the world,” Mr. Pravikoff said. (2)

In fact, the radioactive levels in the wine were so low that the scientists had to burn the wine to ashes to test it. If there is a higher level of radiation, the team’s equipment can test the level through the glass of the wine bottle. (2)

This testing method has come in handy in verifying the authenticity of old and expensive wines. Fraud is rampant in that market, but wines can now be tested for cesium-137. It did not exist before the mid-20th century. Scientists can also sometimes pinpoint when a bottle of wine was produced. Nuclear events affect the grapes based on how close it occurred to them. (2)