Japan Tests Farmland Soil Samples for Radioactivity Near Fukushima Plant
Japan Begins Farmland Tests for Radioactivity Near Fukushima
Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg
Yuichi Yonekura, a vegetable farmer, prepares to dispose of the spinach in his greenhouse in Hokota city, Ibaraki prefecture, Japan.
Yuichi Yonekura, a vegetable farmer, prepares to dispose of the spinach in his greenhouse in Hokota city, Ibaraki prefecture, Japan. Photographer: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg
Japan is testing soil samples from farmland in prefectures hit by radiation leakage from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power station to assess whether crops can be planted there.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries plans to complete testing of 150 samples by the mid-April, when rice growers in the region are scheduled to start sowing, said Yukiko Yamada at the ministry’s food safety and consumer affairs bureau.
Hazardous radiation levels are delaying repair work at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant, site of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Damaged reactors at the plant may take three decades to decommission and cost operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. more than 1 trillion yen ($12 billion), analysts said.
“We will advise each of the local government offices, based on the test results, whether farmers in the prefectures can go ahead with planting,” Yamada told reporters in Tokyo today. Testing will begin with samples from rice paddies and later cover soil for other crops, she said.
Rice production in Fukushima and neighboring Ibaraki and Miyagi prefectures amounted to 1.22 million metric tons last year, representing 15 percent of the country’s total output.
The government discovered 163,000 becquerel per kilogram of radioactive cesium and 1.17 million becquerel of radioactive iodine in soil in Iitate village, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the plant.
Tolerance Level
The health ministry tentatively set tolerance levels of radioactivity in each food. For grains including rice, the level is set at 500 becquerel per kilogram of cesium and 100 becquerel per kilogram of uranium.
Rice may absorb cesium from soil as it grows in paddies for about five months. The ministry must check how much cesium in soil can be transmitted to rice, Yamada said.
The government has restricted vegetable shipments from Fukushima and three neighboring prefectures after it discovered products with higher-than-acceptable levels of radioactivity through random testing. Japan has suspended raw-milk shipments from Fukushima and Ibaraki prefectures.
Japan, the largest corn importer, is self-sufficient in rice. The main growing regions are in the northern island of Hokkaido, away from the affected area, followed by Niigata and Akita prefectures in the northwest.
Food-rice stockpiles held by the private sector and the government are forecast to climb 2.5 percent to 3.24 million tons by the end of June because of declining consumption, according to the agriculture ministry. The volume is the biggest in eight years and equivalent to almost five months of consumption, the ministry said in July.
To contact the reporter on this story: Aya Takada in Tokyo at atakada2@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
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