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Fukushima and Hiroshima: Map showing radioactive contamination to be ready in August

by Yoko Yamamoto, Staff Writer

In the wake of the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 (Daiichi) nuclear power plant, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) announced officially on May 26 that it will conduct a large-scale investigation of the soil in Fukushima Prefecture and in surrounding areas, with more than 10,000 soil samples to be collected. In August, a map showing the radioactive contamination of this region will then be released. More than 30 universities and institutions, including Hiroshima University, Okayama University of Science, and the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in the city of Chiba, will take part in this project. The map will be used in connection with the health care of local residents, such as forming estimates of the radiation doses they have suffered, and also serve as a benchmark for lifting the evacuation order from the current off-limit zones and proceeding with the resumption of farming.

MEXT provided this explanation at the first meeting of an investigative commission, comprised of experts, which took place in Tokyo. Hisashi Nakamura, professor emeritus at Tohoku University and former chair of the Radiation Council at MEXT, who was chosen to head the commission, said, “This is an important investigation that will have an impact on the health care of residents and the reconstruction of their lives. We will pursue this project, along with researchers from across Japan, with the knowledge from Hiroshima forming the core of our work.”

Radioactive materials in the affected areas have not spread in a concentric fashion, but exist as distinct “hot spots” with high levels of radiation. Hiroshima University will therefore make use of its findings from research conducted in Chernobyl and on the “black rain” that fell in the aftermath of the atomic bombing.

In addition to the whole of Fukushima Prefecture, the soil survey is expected to target some areas of Miyagi, Ibaraki, and Yamagata prefectures that are located within 80 to 100 kilometers of the stricken nuclear plant. The survey will be conducted from the end of May to the middle of June. The area within 80 kilometers of the nuclear plant will be divided into two-kilometer-square plots, while the area within 80 to 100 kilometers of the nuclear plant will be divided into ten-kilometer-square plots, with more than 10,000 soil samples to be gathered from these sites. The samples will then be tested to measure the levels of cesium and iodine that have accumulated in the soil.

The degree of radioactive contamination in agricultural land, including in fields of rice and other crops, as well as levels of radiation in the air, will be mapped, too. In addition, water samples will be collected from rivers and groundwater in these regions, and will be analyzed to assess changes in the diffusion of radioactive materials under various conditions, including over the passage of time. While not yet official, the decision has been made to allocate a budget of nearly 710 million yen for this project under the Strategic Funds for the Promotion of Science and Technology for fiscal 2011.

(Originally published on May 27, 2011)

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