This photograph released by the US Navy shows sailors conducting a wash down of the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan on March 23, 2011 off the coast of Japan. Navy officials halted air operations from USS Reagan on March 23, 2011 to clean the ship of contamination from radioactive plume it had passed while conducting humanitarian relief operations following the massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake and towering tsunami which battered northeast Japan on March 11. While the radiation did not pose any significant health risk, “it needs to go away,” Cmdr. Ron Rutan, chief engineer for the Reagan, said during an interview on March 22. AFP PHOTO / US NAVYUS Carrier Fought Contamination While Aiding Japan -- MSNBC/AP
ABOARD THE USS RONALD REAGAN — When U.S. Navy helicopters returned from a humanitarian mission on the first weekend following Japan's earthquake and tsunami, Lt. j.g. James Powell felt a slight unease.
Powell, the radiation health officer aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, knew there was a chance the choppers could have been exposed to radiation from the damaged Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant as they ferried relief aid to northeastern Japan, and even though "the Japanese had told us we'd be fine," he still wanted to be sure.
"I was kind of nervous about it," the 30-year-old nuclear engineer said. "So I said, 'Let's just go check them, just in case. ... Let's just go check it out.'"
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(Click on Image to Enlarge)Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan conduct a counter-measure wash down on the flight deck to remove potential radiation contamination while operating off the coast of Japan while providing humanitarian assistance in support of Operation Tomodachi, March 22, 2011. Nicholas A. Groesch / Reuters
Update #1: US carrier fought contamination while aiding Japan -- Yahoo News/AP
Update #2: US nuclear carrier flees radiation fallout zone -- Sydney Morning Herald
Update #3: Carrier Ronald Reagan gets decontamination scrubdown -- WVEC.com
My Comment: I suspect that there must have been a number of Pentagon and Navy officers (plus all the crew) who were nervous on what was their situation when the first radiation readings started to come in. On a side note .... I am also sure that the USS Reagan had support ships with it when it was in the radiation zone .... were they also scrubbed clean?