Fukushima decontamination efforts proves to be daunting task

in Fukushima City recorded radiation exposure at .33 to 1.04 microsieverts per hour or roughly 2.9 to 9.1 millisieverts over a year.

According to the International Commission on Radiological Protection, individuals should not be exposed to more than one to twenty millisieverts of radiation over the course of a year.

In the case of Chernobyl, the only other nuclear disaster on scale with Fukushima, the Soviet government simply chose to evacuate all residents and leave the area as a dead-zone, but in Japan, where land is already scarce, long-term evacuation is not an option.

The JAEA is currently testing various decontamination technologies and methods at nineteen sites across the Fukushima prefecture before it moves on to larger scale decontamination efforts. Various government agencies, private companies, and academics are all experimenting to find the most efficient and effective way to decontaminate the area.

For instance, the prefectural government has recommended removing leaf litter from woods within sixty-five feet of homes and deeply ploughing or turning over fields to dilute contamination. Meanwhile some farmers are power-washing their orchards or shaving the bark off trees.

The Fukushima Department of Agriculture has also recommended that farmers add potassium fertilizer to their fields if they are moderately contaminated as the potassium will help minimize the cesium uptake by crops.

According to Higley, cutting, scraping, raking, and ploughing are effective, but resource intense, methods to decontaminate an area. They may “seem kind of absurd but actually make sense,” she said.

But, to further complicate cleanup efforts, Fukushima’s hilly and heavily wooded landscape poses a particular challenge. Houses are commonly built near wooded hills and agricultural fields are located in small valleys where radioactive runoff from uphill can easily recontaminate these low-lying areas.

As officials work to make Fukushima safe, residents remain deeply skeptical.

“Safe? What is safe?” questioned Sumiko Toyoguchi, an elderly woman who once lived four miles from the nuclear plant but now lives in temporary housing in Fukushima city. Toyoguchi said she would not return to her home even after cleanup crews complete their decontamination efforts as she worries that their work was inadequate.

In addition Japanese consumers still remain wary of contaminated food, especially with reports that nuclear isotopes released into the water have been found moving their way up the food chain.

Even after the government invests trillions of yen and resources to tackle a daunting decontamination challenge, Japanese officials will still have the even more troublesome task of convincing deeply doubtful residents that the area is safe to inhabit.

Eugene K. Chow is the executive editor of the Homeland Security NewsWire