Asia-Pacific
Navy sends radiological assistance team to ships in Japan
Stars and Stripes
March 22, 2011
Richard Teets, a member of a U.S. Navy radiological assistance team, undergoes a radiological scan after arriving on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Essex. The 21-member team arrived last weekend and will check for radiation on personnel and aircraft who travel in areas affected by radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi plant. (Courtesy of the U.S. Navy)
Richard Teets, a member of a U.S. Navy radiological assistance team, undergoes a radiological scan after arriving on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Essex. The 21-member team arrived last weekend and will check for radiation on personnel and aircraft who travel in areas affected by radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi plant. (Courtesy of the U.S. Navy)
Members of a U.S. Navy radiological assistance team debark from a CH-53 Sea Stallion on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Essex. The 21-member team will check for radiation on personnel and aircraft who travel in areas affected by radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. (Courtesy of the U.S. Navy)
SEOUL — The Navy has dispatched a 21-person radiological assistance team to check for radiation on aircraft and personnel taking part in humanitarian and disaster relief missions in Japan, according to a U.S. Navy news release.
The team, which includes military personnel and civilians, will be sent to the USS Essex, the USS Harpers Ferry and the USS Germantown to monitor flight crews and passengers who travel over the affected zones near the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant. The team landed aboard the Essex on Saturday.
“We will be looking for any signs of radioactivity on the people and planes that return back to the ship from their missions,” Petty Officer 1st Class Wade Gerloff, a radiological control technician, said in a news release. “If we find any signs of radioactivity, we will remove and prevent the spread to others on the ship.”
Team members came from Guam, Puget Sound, Wash., Norfolk, Va., and Pearl Harbor.
From staff reports