American warships detect radioactive contamination more than 100 miles offshore.

UPDATE – From MSNBC –  The U.S. Seventh Fleet moved its ships and aircraft away from a quake-stricken Japanese nuclear plant Monday after discovering low-level radioactive contamination more than 100 miles offshore.

The fleet said that the radiation was from a plume of smoke and steam released from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, where there have been two hydrogen explosions since Friday’s devastating earthquake and tsunami.

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan was about 100 miles offshore when its instruments detected the radiation. The fleet said the dose of radiation was about the same as one month’s normal exposure to natural background radiation in the environment.

The ships did not move because helicopter crews were contaminated. The ships themselves were contaminated. They have been contaminated by a radioactive plume from one of the reactors.

From Yahoo News – Seventeen U.S. military personnel involved in helicopter relief missions were found to have been exposed to low levels of radiation upon returning to the USS Ronald Reagan, an aircraft carrier about 100 miles (160 kilometers) offshore. U.S. officials said the exposure level was roughly equal to one month’s normal exposu … Read More

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