OTTAWA — Traces of radioactive iodine, likely to be from Japan's nuclear plant at Fukushima, were reportedly found by radiation monitoring centres in Ontario, New Brunswick and British Columbia.
The detected quantity of radioactive particles of Iodine-131 (I-131) is minimal, according to Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, and not hazardous to the health of Canadians.
I-131 is produced by the fission of uranium atoms in nuclear reactors and by plutonium (or uranium) in the detonation of nuclear weapons.
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission reports suggest that the effective dose to a person would be around 0.03 of a microsievert if a person breathed in this concentration of air, and was exposed externally to this air for an entire month, said the commission.
A sievert measures the biological effect of radiation absorbed. A microsievert is one-millionth of a sievert. A millisievert is one one-thousandth.
On average, Canadians receive about 2.7 millisieverts of ionizing radiation from natural sources in a year.
A very helpful ‘Radiation Dosage Chart’ is available here for the guidance.
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