© U.S. Navy
Seventeen crewmembers on three U.S. Navy helicopters were found to have been contaminated with low levels of radiation, officials say.
Seventeen crewmembers on three U.S. Navy helicopters were found to have been contaminated with low levels of radiation, officials say.
The radioactivity was detected when the service members returned to the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan aboard three helicopters. They were treated with soap and water and their clothes were discarded.
"No further contamination was detected," the military said.
The helicopters were also decontaminated.
The U.S. 7th Fleet, positioned about 100 miles northeast of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to deliver aid to Japan's coastal region, moved its ships further away due to "airborne radioactivity" and contamination found on its planes.
The military noted, however, that the level of contamination was very low, and the ship movement was merely a precaution.
"For perspective, the maximum potential radiation dose received by any ship's force personnel aboard the ship when it passed through the area was less than the radiation exposure received from about one month of exposure to natural background radiation from sources such as rocks, soil, and the sun," the Navy said.
