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EPA: Only Traces Of Radiation Detected In CA

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) -- Trace amounts of radiation from Japan's leaking nuclear power reactors have been detected on the west coast of the United States, but at levels that "hundreds of thousands to millions of times below levels of concern," according to federal officials.

The Environmental Protection Agency said monitors in Seattle, San Francisco, Riverside and Anaheim all showed tiny amounts of radioactive iodine, cesium and tellurium that matches the description of materials vented by damaged Fukushima Daiichi reactors in the wake of a devastating magnitude-9.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

Samples taken in Oregon are still being analyzed. Monitors in Hawaii revealed traces of an isotope consistent with the nuclear incident in Japan, officials said.

The amount of detected radiation doesn't come close to levels that could affect human health, according to the EPA, totaling less than 1/100,000 the dose of radiation that the average American absorbs each day from natural sources.

The EPA says it will continue to make its raw data available on its website. (Sacramento Monitoring Station)

Japanese workers finally managed to connect power to the cooling systems at all six reactors at the stricken nuclear plant Tuesday, but the critical containment systems will still need to undergo days or weeks of testing before they can be safely turned on.

The earthquake and tsunami in Japan is estimated to have killed at least 18,000 people.

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