News Release

Mar. 18, 2019 –  Mar. 11 marked the 8th anniversary of Japan’s Tohuku earthquake. The tsunami that followed led to the meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which spread radioactive materials throughout the area. The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) Mar. 15 Soils Matter blog explores current efforts to solve contamination problems in the farming village of Iitate, Japan.

Dan Ferreira, a researcher at Kennesaw State University, GA has collaborated with Japanese researchers in rural Fukushima. “My research into the soil contamination in Iitate Village seeks to find a way to chemically extract the radiocesium from the soil. Doing so would allow the soil to be re-used, or at the very least, disposed of more easily,” Ferreira says. “While this research is still very preliminary, I hope that it will someday provide a solution for the Japanese government on what to do with the soil currently stockpiled in Iitate Village.”

Ferreira describes other solutions Japanese researchers are exploring. These include:

• Draining contaminated clay from the soil
• Applying precise fertigation (fertilization plus irrigation) to the fields
• Growing non-food crops to continue an income for the farmers

“Working together, hopefully we can help the famers of Iitate Village to rebuild their lives and recover from this devastating accident,” Ferreira says.

Read the entire post here.  https://soilsmatter.wordpress.com/2019/03/15/dealing-with-the-fallout-in-fukushima-part-2 The first post in this series looked at the impact on the farming village of Iitate, Japan. View it here. https://soilsmatter.wordpress.com/2019/03/01/dealing-with-the-fallout-in-fukushima-part-1.