Radiation safety

There may be traces of radioactive particles from Fukushima in your California red wine

There might be an unexpected ingredient in your glass of California red wine.

If your bottle of choice was made after 2011, it could have small amounts of radioactive particles from a major nuclear accident: Japan's Fukushima meltdown.

Years after the 2011 disaster, a group of French nuclear physicists wanted to see whether cesium-137, a radioactive isotope, was more present in wines made after the disaster than those made before.

They tested bottles of two well-known types of California wines -- rosé and Cabernet sauvignon -- that were made from 2009 and 2012. And their study, submitted to the Cornell University Library on July 11, highlights what they found.

The bad news: Some wines from after 2011 had twice as much radioactive material.

The good news: The levels are still too low for you to worry about.