Mid-Pacific search for Japan nuclear water

A Spanish research vessel that's just finished testing the waters off the South coast of Australia, will head to the Pacific Ocean to search for traces of radioactive waste from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant.

Hesperides research vessel is part of the Malaspina expedition that's analysing the quality of the oceans around the world.

Costing around 23 million dollars, it's an ambitious project with hundreds of the world's top scientists involved.

Searching for radioactive waste was not on the agenda for Hesperides.

The Malaspina Expedition, which took two years to plan, was designed primarily to test the seas for signs of climate change, pollution and to explore their biodiversity.

“For us at least it's … one of the most important oceanographic campaigns that have ever taken place in history,” said Juan Antonio Aguilar, Hesperides commander.

But now its testing will take on a whole new dimension.

It will soon sail across the Pacific to see how much radioactive waste from Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant, is present in the water.

They were already at sea when Japan's earthquake struck.

“We felt … we could be most useful by collecting information on the amounts of radioactivity in the centre of the Pacific ocean where no one's watching at present,” expedition leader Carlos Duarte said.

Duarte said given that traces had already been found in Spain and on the West coast of America, the prospect for the marine life in the Pacific is not good.

“The levels that we observe are not likely to be dangerous to humans at present, but of course over time the levels will be magnified in the food web and with time the levels in the upper level of the food web and the higher predators will probably lead to levels that might be in conflict with human use of those organisms,” Duarte said.

The ship's not sailing into Japanese waters. Instead it'll test the waters on its way to Honolulu.