This year we surveyed large areas east of Japan, from the Sea of Okhotsk to the subtropics, the head of the mission and head of the laboratory of the Victor Ilichov Institute of Pacific Oceanology, Vyacheslav Lobanov, told reporters on Monday.

The scientist explained that the expedition, which began on June 4, was organized jointly with the prestigious Kurchatov Institute, a leading research institute in nuclear energy and molecular physics, and Sakhalin State University.

The aim of the expedition was to understand what was happening in the Pacific due to the release of stored water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant that began last year. According to official information, those waters underwent treatment to remove all radionuclides except tritium, he said.

Lobanov stressed that his team started the work last year with expeditions to the Kamchatka area and the Kuril Islands.

The scientist said that the analysis of sea water samples will take time before conclusions are made about the level of radioactivity.

At the moment we have the samples, we filtered about 100 tons of sea water to discern different isotopes. We made direct measurements with a gamma ray spectrometer on the seawater, he said.

Lobanov insisted that the laboratory analysis of the water samples will take about three months and then the research team will draw the strategy to follow and a new expedition could be planned.

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