USS Ronald Reagan moved after detecting radiation

SAN DIEGO -- The Navy said Monday that it has moved its ships and planes away from a damaged Japanese nuclear plant after the USS Ronald Reagan detected low-level radioactive contamination.

Tests detected the radioactivity on 17 U.S. Navy helicopter crew members when they returned to the USS Ronald Reagan after conducting disaster relief missions in Japan, the military said. No further contamination was detected after the crew members washed with soap and water, the Navy said.

The fleet said that the radiation was from a plume of smoke and steam released from the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant, where there have been two hydrogen explosions since Friday's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Nevertheless, the U.S. 7th Fleet has temporarily repositioned its ships and planes away from the Fukushima plant. The Navy said the Reagan was about 100 miles offshore when its instruments detected the radiation. Officials said that the most radiation that ship personnel could have received was less than they would receive in a month of exposure to natural radiation sources, such as the rocks, soil and sun.

The commanding officer, Capt. Thom Burke, wrote on the ship's Facebook page that very low levels of radioactivity were found on 17 sailors, all of whom were treated.

"We promptly took the proper precautions and the radioactivity was easily removed by using soap and water,'' Burke wrote.  "The levels that were detected were very low levels.''

The captain wrote that the safety of the crew was his top priority.

The Reagan is refueling Japanese military aircraft involved in relief efforts and using its own airplanes to distribute supplies, according to a Navy officer who did not wish to be identified.

Relief efforts by the aircraft carrier are focused north of Sendai, the city of 1 million located close to the epicenter of last week's deadly 8.9 earthquake.

The cruiser USS Chancellorsville and destroyer USS Preble, also based in San Diego, are in the region near the Reagan.

According to the Preble's Facebook page, Lt. Cmdr. Kurt Sellerberg, the executive officer, shared with the crew reports from pilots of the devastation in the areas affected by the earthquake and resulting tsunami, prompting sailors to donate extra food, clothing and blankets to the relief effort.

A half-dozen ships stationed at U.S. naval bases in Japan are also taking part in relief efforts, and four others, including the formerly San Diego-based dock landing ship USS Germantown, are on the way, according to the Navy's Seventh Fleet.