Agricultural Implications of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident The First Three Years

Large amounts of radioactive materials were released into the environment due to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station of the Tokyo Electric Power Company caused by a powerful earthquake on March 11, 2011. Many of the areas where radioactive materials were deposited were in the agriculture, fisheries, livestock, and forestry industries that support our food supply. At the Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo, many teachers and students entered the disaster-stricken areas to conduct surveys and research. We compiled the "Agricultural Implications of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident" series to summarize the field data obtained through these activities and disseminate it to the world; it is also available for free download. The first book (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-4-431-54328-2), published in 2013, has been downloaded more than 135000 times and has been widely read around the world. The book introduced here is the second book in the series (2016), which covers the events up to the third year after the accident.
 
As of 2018, most of the people living in Japan are not concerned about radioactive cesium in their food (http://www.maff.go.jp/j/shokusan/ryutu/attach/pdf/190329-11.pdf, in Japanese text, accessed 2019/10/09). This book will help readers understand how food safety has been ensured and what efforts have been made in the agricultural environment.
 
The following information is described in this book: detailed data on the number of inspection samples and radioactivity levels in agricultural products conducted in Fukushima Prefecture, the concentration of radioactive cesium in rice when various rice varieties are grown in rice paddies in Fukushima Prefecture or when the fertilizer is changed, the amount of radioactive cesium absorbed by rice when potassium fertilizer is used in rice paddies, the percentage of absorbed radioactive cesium transferred to brown rice paddies, radioactive cesium concentration in the organs of wild boars, radiation levels and activities of wild birds, transfer of radioactive cesium to fruit trees, future prospects of radioactive cesium transfer to trees with the production of logs for shiitake mushrooms, visualization of radioactive cesium accumulation in areas with Japanese cedar and pine trees, results of analysis of radioactive cesium circulation in forest ecosystems, and water flooding in paddy fields with the aim of reducing radiation levels in rural environments in Fukushima Prefecture.
 
These results provide information that we would like the public to be aware of in Japan and overseas. The text is written in English, but there are also many graphs, so that Japanese students can easily understand the content. This book is available as a free pdf.
 
 

(Written by TANOI Keitaro, Professor, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences / 2019)