Exchange program of reseachers studying consequences and remediation tools on the radiocaesium contamination following the Fukushima accident.

An exchange program is proposed here with which three researchers from key institutes in Japan will be trained in Flanders in the beginning of 2012 on a specific technique to measure a soil property that affects the fate of the radiocaesium in Japanese soil. This property was described first by Prof. Adrien Cremers in 1988 (Cremers et al., 1988) and is now used by numerous researchers to screen soils for their vulnerability to this contamination. This property will be measured on Japanese soils to estimate the food chain contamination in the area affected by the Fukushima accident in Japan, March 2011. In addition to the training in Flemish laboratories, we plan a return visit of two Flemish researchers in summer 2012 to visit field trials in Japan and discuss new countermeasures.

Keywords:Radiocaesium, Fukushima, Soil pollution, Soil remediation, Chernobyl

Disciplines:Forestry sciences