A tale of two forests: Addressing postnuclear radiation at Chernobyl and Fukushima

Environmental Health Perspectives

Volumn 121, Issue 3, 2013, Pages

  Bird, Winifred A ^a   Little, Jane Braxton ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CESIUM; IODINE; PLATINUM;

ARTICLE; BIOMASS; CHERNOBYL ACCIDENT; COST; DAIRY CATTLE; DEATH; DISASTER; ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION; EXPLOSION; FOREST; FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR ACCIDENT; GENETIC DAMAGE; GOVERNMENT; HARVESTING; HEALTH HAZARD; LIFE CYCLE; MUSHROOM; NATURAL DISASTER; NUCLEAR POWER PLANT; PRIORITY JOURNAL; RADIATION EXPOSURE; RADIOACTIVE CONTAMINATION; WASTE MANAGEMENT;

CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR ACCIDENT; FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR ACCIDENT; JAPAN; RADIOACTIVE POLLUTANTS; TREES; UKRAINE;

EID: 84874607543     PISSN: 00916765     EISSN: 15529924     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1289/ehp.121-a78     Document Type: Article

References (55)

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34. The studies were done by the National Institute for Environmental Studies; Ministry of Education, Culture, and Technology; and Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute. They include dust monitoring in the exclusion zone, a study of radionuclides in pollen, modeling of contaminated watersheds, and a soil erosion test in a cedar forest. Summaries can be accessed, in Japanese, from the Japanese Ministry of the Environment: http://www.env.go.jp/jishin/rmp/conf/05.html [accessed 20 Feb 2013].
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42. For one example, see Otake T. The muddy issue of cesium in a lake. The Japan Times, Life section, online edition (18 Nov 2012). Available: http://goo.gl/ggnzm [accessed 20 Feb 2013]. See also online data from the Environment Ministry's monitoring of bodies of water and aquatic species: Ministry of the Environment. Environmental Monitoring of Radioactive Substances in the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster Area: Public Waters [in Japanese]. Tokyo, Japan:Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan (2013). Available: http://www.env.go.jp/jishin/monitoring/results_r-pw.html [accessed 20 Feb 2013].
43. During the 2012 spring snowmelt season, and again in the rainy season, scientists at the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute tested water in three streams flowing from contaminated forests for cesium-134 and-137. Both isotopes, which quickly attach to soil particles and therefore are unlikely to show up unless water is turbid, were below detectable levels in most samples and very low in the rest. (Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute. Monitoring Results for Radioactive Substances in Mountain Streams during the Spring Snowmelt Season [in Japanese]. Tsukuba, Japan:Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (12 Jun 2012). Available: http://www.ffpri.affrc.go.jp/press/2012/20120612/documents/20120612.pdf [accessed 20 Feb 2013]. Also: Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute. Monitoring Results for Radioactive Substances in Mountain Streams during the Summer Rainy Season. Tsukuba, Japan:Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (21 Sep 2012). Available: http://www.ffpri.affrc.go.jp/press/2012/20120612/documents/20120612.pdf [accessed 20 Feb 2013].) In another experiment, commissioned by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Technology, researchers calculated that just 0.058% of the cesium-137 in a 110-m2 patch of cedar plantation washed downslope over a month and a half, with 266 mm of rain (Ministry of Environment. Risk of Radioactive Substances Being Spread via Water, Document 4-1, 5th Meeting of the Committee on Environmental Restoration, Tokyo, Japan, 31 Jul 2012. Tokyo:Ministry of Environment, Government of Japan (2012). Available: http://www.env.go.jp/jishin/rmp/conf/05/mat09.pdf [accessed 20 Feb 2013]).
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45. Defined as those where soil concentrations of cesium-134 and-137 exceed 1,000 kBq/m2.
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55. According to multiple sources interviewed for this story.