Scientists say that forecast models predict the first waves of low-level radiation from the 2011 Japan Tsunami and nuclear meltdown will begin to hit the U.S. West Coast during April.

Ken Buesseler, a chemical oceanographer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, presented a report to the issue last week saying that more monitoring is necessary now that radiation is starting to appear.

No federal agency is monitoring the Pacific Ocean for radiation levels.

“I’m not trying to be alarmist,” Buesseler said, “we can make predictions, we can do models, but unless you have results how will be know it’s safe.”

A report last week showed that Cesium 134 has been detected in the waters off Canada near the Gulf of Alaska.  Buesseler said that Cesium 134 is part of the release from the Fukushima nuclear plant.

“The models show it will reach north of Seattle first, then move down the coast,” Buesseler said.