Radiation from Japan Reactors Reaches Israel

Israel's Soreq Nuclear Research Center on Wednesday reported that it had detected traces of radioactive material in the air the previous day, believed to have drifted to the area in the wake of the breakdowns of the nuclear plants at Fukushima in Japan earlier this month.

The center's gases and particles monitoring station detected traces of Iodine-131, a radioactive isotope that was a significant contributor to health effects from atomic bomb testing in the 1950s.

Experts at the Israel Atomic Energy Commission (IAEC) stressed, however, that the concentration of I-131 that was measured poses no health or environmental risks.

"The public can continue its daily routine as usual," the IAEC said in a statement.

The concentration detected in Israel on Tuesday is 400,000 times lower than that measured in the country following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, local media reported.

Radioactive fallout from the Fukushima disaster has been identified in numerous parts of the world in recent weeks. Moderate concentrations were measured reportedly in Siberia, the Pacific and North America.