Environmental remediation following the Fukushima-Daiichi accident

Tagawa, Akihiro ; Nakayama, Shinichi ; Miyahara, Kaname  

A wide area of Fukushima Prefecture was contaminated with radioactivity released by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident. Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been involved in mitigating the effects of the accident in a diversifying ways from the emergency dispatch of radiation experts immediately after the accident and radiation monitoring in the affected areas to demonstrate of decontamination for a variety of targets, public affairs with evacuated populations, and research and development activities for environmental remediation. The decontamination related activity is one of the major contributions of JAEA to environmental remediation, providing technical supports to the unprecedented regional decontamination in Fukushima that have been carried out by the central and local governments of Japan. JAEA's experiences and expertise obtained are overviewed in this paper focusing on the decontamination pilot project.