How the US Ended Up With Nuclear Shrimp and Sneakers From Indonesia
A radiation warning sign on the wall of a kiosk near the Modern Cikande Industrial Estate, where the radioactive Cesium-137 was detected, in Indonesia, on Oct. 13.
Photographer: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images
The first sign of trouble surfaced thousands of miles from Indonesia.
Inspectors in the US are used to seeing containers of frozen shrimp and sneakers pass through their ports. Some 600,000 metric tons of the seafood and more than two billion pairs of shoes arrive each year from various countries, usually without incident. But in July, inspectors in Los Angeles — then other ports on either side of the US — discovered something strange: shipments of prawns, and Nike branded sneakers, emitting faint traces of man-made radiation.