China monitors nuclear radiation in west Pacific

BEIJING - A marine monitoring team departed from Xiamen, a port city in Southeast China's Fujian province, on Sunday to monitor radiation in the west Pacific, the State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said on Monday.

Aboard the monitoring vessel Xiangyanghong-06, the team will monitor the distribution and spread of radioactive substances from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plants in the west Pacific and analyze its impact on the region and China's territorial waters, the SOA said.

The monitoring team will sail about 5,000 nautical miles in 50 days, according to the plan.

Citing latest data collected via a 40-day monitoring of the Western Pacific Ocean from April to June, the SOA said radioactive contaminants were detected in waters and fish in the ocean southeast of Fukushima, but that no impact on Chinese waters had been reported.

The administration has so far carried out five regular monitorings of the ocean since the Fukushima nuclear accident in March 2011.

The missions have helped China establish a marine environment alert system in the west Pacific, the SOA said.