Still checking all Fukushima rice

October 5, 2015

Fukushima Pref. to continue testing all rice for radioactive contamination

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20151005p2a00m0na009000c.html

The Fukushima Prefectural Government plans to continue radiation tests on all bags of rice from the prefecture, on the grounds that consumer confidence has yet to be completely restored due to the ongoing Fukushima nuclear crisis.

The prefectural government began testing all bags of rice produced in the prefecture, starting with rice produced in 2012, a year after the meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant. Cases in which radiation levels have exceeded the government safety standard of no more than 100 becquerels per kilogram have decreased each year, with no market-destined rice produced in 2014 being deemed unsafe. Tests on rice produced in 2015 began in August and no results have exceeded the standard this year so far.

At least around 10 million 30-kilogram bags of rice are tested for radiation each year, at a cost of roughly 5 billion yen. Bags whose radiation level is below the government standard receive a "safety sticker" and can be delivered to the market.

According to the prefectural government, 71 bags of rice produced in 2012 exceeded the standard. The following year, the figure fell to 28. In 2014, just two bags produced in an area where measures had not been taken to reduce contamination exceeded the standard. This rice was for home use, not for the market. The steady decline is believed to be a result of progressing measures to reduce contamination, such as spreading potassium over fields to absorb radioactive cesium.

Rice produced in 2011, when the Fukushima nuclear meltdowns occurred, was subjected to sample testing. In October the same year, the prefectural government declared rice in the prefecture "safe," on the grounds that none exceeded the government's provisional safety standard of 500 becquerels per kilogram. Just a month later, however, contamination above this level was found on several occasions, and the following year the prefecture started testing all rice. A total of 202 testing devices were purchased at a cost of about 4 billion yen and distributed across the prefecture. Over the three years between the 2012 and 2014 fiscal years, the cost of running this equipment, including personnel costs, reached about 15 billion yen.

Takashi Kanno, head of the JA Shin-Fukushima agricultural cooperative, commented, "Looking at data over the past three years, we can probably secure safety through sample testing." However, in a survey of about 600 businesses and consumers within and outside of Fukushima Prefecture in 2013, at least 70 percent of respondents supported testing of all bagged rice.

Photo Journal: Fukushima town preparing rice for market next year

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20151005p2a00m0na002000c.html

Yukiei Matsumoto, mayor of the Fukushima Prefecture town of Naraha, harvests rice that has been cultivated on an experimental basis to test for radiation contamination, on Oct. 4, 2015. In the background, to his right, stands Yuzutaro, the town's mascot. The evacuation order issued to residents of Naraha after the 2011 onset of the nuclear disaster was lifted about a month ago. Radiation levels in rice grown in Naraha last year and the year before did not exceed standards set by the national government. If radiation levels remain below those standards this year, rice from Naraha is set to make it to the market beginning with next year's harvest. However, because many local farmers fear that consumers will avoid rice from Naraha regardless of the test results, only about 6 percent of farmers who grew rice before the March 2011 triple disasters are expected to plant rice next spring. (Mainichi)