Tohoku Agricultural Research Center, NARO

Agricultural Radiation Research Center

Main research topics are:

  • Mitigation of radioactive Cs in rice.
  • Mitigation of radioactive Cs in upland crops.
  • Labor-saving management system to maintain agricultural fields.
  • Countermeasures for wildlife damage to agriculture.
  • Energy- and resource-recycling agricultural technology.
  • Irrigation water management.

The Agricultural Radiation Research Center aims to introduce countermeasures to mitigate the damage caused by the nuclear accident at the Tokyo Electric Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. We are pursuing various studies on decontamination of radioactive Cs from agricultural field and mitigation of radioactive Cs transfer from soil to plant are studied. Furthermore, we are trying to support the initiation of agriculture after decontamination. It has been 5 years since the nuclear accident and the content of the research has been changing from emergency response to long-term countermeasures. Furthermore, these countermeasures should include not only agricultural fields but also the surrounding environment and the dynamics of related radioactive materials dynamics. It is also important to adjust the required potassium fertilizer to mitigate the radioactive Cs transfer from soil to plant into an adequate amount just to satisfy the foodstuffs radioactive Cs level become lower than standard value. Other difficult point is the timing of decontamination and initiation of agriculture is not synchronized, which requires to maintain the agricultural field with minimum amount of labor and/or cost. In this way, as the Agricultural Radiation Research Center is located in the disaster area, we are required not only to respond quickly to issues related to radioactive materials, but also to make direct contact with farmers and the local government. We are collaborating with researchers from different fields to address various issues related to decontamination to achieve the goal of reconstruction from the nuclear disaster.

A bird-eye view of our campus in Fukushima

Director

WATANABE Mitsuru

Research Groups

Centers・Institutes