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Technology and Engineering
- ISSN: 2333-2581
- Modern Environmental Science and Engineering
Mitigation of Radioactive Contamination from Farmland
Environment and Agricultural Products
Takuro Shinano
NARO Tohoku Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Radiation Research Center, Japan
Abstract: Radioactive Cs contamination of vast area including crop land with a focus on TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in March 2011, still ask farmers to reduce the uptake of radioactive materials to the crops in the farmland even today. Several removal technologies from the paddy and upland soils, volume reduction of waste materials, and potassium fertilizer application to reduce the uptake of radioactive cesium (Cs) to the edible part of plant will be presented. In the case of food supply, as the concentration of radioactive substances in food less than standard value (100 Bq/kg) is required, sufficient removal of radioactive Cs from the field and reduction of transfer factor from soil to plant by maintaining potassium levels in soil throughout the growth stage, successively reduced the number of food samples with excess levels of radioactive Cs in food products. Furthermore, the food processing steps also played an important role to remove the radioactive Cs from the food (such as wheat, soybean, etc.). On the other hand, attention should be paid to reduction of radiation exposure of farm workers during their labor in the fields, by removing or shielding the radioactive Cs from the environment. Several agricultural machineries have been modified to adapt in contaminated areas. As the contaminated soil is limited to the very thin but fertile top soil layer, removal of contaminated soil and top-dressing of non-contaminated but low fertile soil sometimes reduce the fertility of the field and also induce erosion, so we also attempt to develop methods to compensate the productivity after the decontamination of the field by applying forage grasses to increase the soil fertility and reduce the possible erosion of topsoil from the field.
Key words: radioactive cesium, nuclear power plant accident, decontamination of radioactive Cs from field, mitigation of radioactive Cs to plant
