• In its natural state, iodine is a solid black crystal.

• And though the vastness of the ocean has the capacity to dilute nuclear contamination, signs of spreading radioactive material are being found off Japan, including the discovery of elevated concentrations of radioactive cesium and iodine in small fish several dozen miles south of Fukushima, and high levels of radioactivity in seawater 25 miles offshore.

• An additional source of information about the possible nuclear contamination contributions to the Arctic from the Ob River comes from measurements of the radionuclide iodine-129 (I-129).