North America is at little risk of receiving harmful levels of radiation from Japan's nuclear crisis, but that has not stopped a scramble on the West Coast for items like potassium iodide and Geiger counters. Low concentrations of radioactive particles from Japan's stricken nuclear plants are expected to drift over the Pacific Ocean, but nothing has been detected by US or Canadian monitoring stations. Health and safety authorities sought to reassure nervous residents that any radioactive particles would disperse as they cross the Pacific from Japan and not pose a public risk when they arrive. Even President Barack Obama weighed in.
Officials have said it would take five or six days for any particles to cross the ocean. Vancouver is more than 7500km from Tokyo, while Los Angeles is over 8800km away.