Tue. May 23, 2017 1:45 PM - 3:15 PM Poster Hall (International Exhibition Hall HALL7)

convener:Taku Nishimura(Deptartment of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, University of Tokyo), Masaru Mizoguchi(Graduate school of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo), Kosuke Noborio(Meiji University)

Five years have passed since the accident of Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant. Remediation of lands from radioactive pollutants derived from the power plant is still on the way. However, some local villagers have started returning their own home. At this moment, it is critical for local residents whether they could come home, and restart farming in the village. Scientists must be responsible for answering such questions. Since the accident, scientists have discovered important information on behaviors of radioactive cesium, i.e. cesium deposited in the forest is expected to move quite slowly and some minerals like weathered biotite tightly retains radioactive cesium.



More than 70% of the Fukushima area is covered by forest, and commercial farming is the most important activity in the polluted areas of Fukushima. The situation would exert difficult assignments on scientists such as life in a forest landscape, possibility of and how to restart producing agricultural commodities at decontaminated farmlands, and restructuring local communities, and so on. Those complex issues are related to social and natural sciences such as sociology, agronomy, soil science, hydrology and ecology, etc. We did preliminary discussion at ASA, CSSA and SSSA International Annual Meeting 2013 in Tampa, U.S.A. by driving a session "Battles of Soil Scientists in Fukushima, Japan".



In the coming session we are welcome to have oral or poster presentations by any related areas of science, and expecting to share latest scientific information, insights and ideas on this matter.