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 Harper’s 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.
( stripes ) [mappress] Source: stripes, March 22, 2011;