General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: America in 'huge trouble,' says nuclear expert [View all]Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)For starters, most of the plutonium from Fukushima would fall out close to the source, that is, in Fukushima, and that particles that remained in the atmosphere would be carried by the prevailing winds toward North America, over the Pacific Ocean, rather than toward Europe, and thus there should be higher detectable amounts in North America.
Second, there are at least 30 reactors in Europe that use MOX fuel that contains plutonium (the same type that was used in Fukushima Unit 4), as well as several companies in Europe that produce it.
http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf29.html
http://archive.greenpeace.org/nuclear/transport/mox00/moxqcsweden.pdf
Really, I think it is a bit of a stretch to attribute plutonium in Europe to Daiichi when there are lots of local European users/makers of the same type of plutonium fuel that could be the actual source.