Antinuclear

North Eastern Japan forests and rural industry damaged by Fukushima radiation

In forests and villages near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in present-day Ukraine, where explosions and fires almost 27 years ago caused a widespread release of radioactive fallout, “hot” mushrooms remain a symbol of persistent environmental contamination.

Fukushima radiation threatens to wreak woodland havoc BY WINIFRED BIRD THE JAPAN TIMES, 17 FEB 13,   “…..“Log-grown mushrooms were a symbol of safe, chemical-free food. That’s been turned upside down,” said the stocky, self-assured farmer. “I can’t sell my products with pride anymore.”

Meanwhile, the future of the wild plants, animals, and insects in the coppiced oak woodlands where he used to cut logs for the shiitake crop are also threatened.

The same is true throughout northeastern Japan. Because mushrooms are more prone than other crops to absorb the radioactive cesium spread by the disaster, growers continue to suffer even in areas where other farmers have returned to business-as-usual. And because mushroom production is closely entwined with a certain type of forested habitat, troubles in the industry presage ecological as well as human impacts……

In forests and villages near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in present-day Ukraine, where explosions and fires almost 27 years ago caused a widespread release of radioactive fallout, “hot” mushrooms remain a symbol of persistent environmental contamination.

Satoshi Yoshida, a researcher at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences, says scientists still don’t know exactly why or how mushrooms accumulate so much cesium. But one reason, he says, is that large amounts of the contaminant remain available to them in forest environments for many years.

Japanese shiitakes are grown on logs, or — more commonly these days — on blocks made of sawdust, corncobs or other farm by-products. Those grown on logs are particularly vulnerable to contamination: According to Forestry Agency tests, shiitakes can accumulate double the concentration of radiocesium of the wood they are grown on. (Rice, in contrast, usually has one-tenth or less the radiocesium concentration of the paddy soil it is grown in.)

Additionally, mushrooms can absorb contaminants from the air or rain if they’re raised outdoors, as are most shiitakes grown for drying……. http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2013/02/17/general/fukushima-radiation-threatens-to-wreak-woodland-havoc/#.USJ87h1wpLs

February 18, 2013 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized