Impacts of Japanese nuclear incident felt in Florida

It’s nearly 7500 miles from Miami to Tokyo, but Florida is still seeing some of the impacts of the ongoing nuclear incident in Japan.

Progress Energy says it has detected very low levels of Iodine 131in the air at its Crystal River Nuclear Plant in Crystal River.

Iodine 131 is a by-product of the fission process in commercial nuclear power reactors and also is used in medical treatments.

In the environment it forms a vapor that can be transported great distances in the air.

Progress Energy said it’s not surprised to have detected the iodine 131 because their monitoring equipment is extremely sensitive.

Progress Energy said the levels being detected are extremely low but the company did notify the Florida Department of Health’s Bureau of Radiation Control of their findings.

And Florida isn’t the only place to find Iodine 131.

It’s been detected at numerous East Coast plants in the past week.

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