Permalink: https://media.greenpeace.org/archive/Contaminated-Forest-in-Iitate-District-27MZIF36VIXF.htmlConceptually similarContaminated Forest in Iitate DistrictGP0STOS3PCompleted★★★★Contaminated Garden in Iitate VillageGP0STOS3RCompleted★★★★★★Contaminated Forest in Iitate NimaibashiGP0STOS3NCompleted★★★★★★Contaminated Forest in IitateGP0STOS3BCompleted★★★★Contaminated Landscape in Iitate Mura HisoGP0STOS3MCompleted★★★★Contaminated Forest in IitateGP0STOS3TCompleted★★★★★★Contaminated Forest in TomiokaGP0STOS3WCompleted★★★★★★Contaminated Landscapes in Motooka ShimizuGP0STOS3GCompleted★★★★★★★Contaminated Forest in MiyakojiGP0STOS3VCompleted★★★★★★View AllGP0STOS3KContaminated Forest in Iitate DistrictThe Okawara forest has become a large reservoir of radio-active particles and impossible to decontaminate. Level of radiation is 4.2 micro Sievert per hour. The normal rate before the Fukushima nuclear disaster was 0.08 microsieverts an hour. The impact of the Fukushima meltdown in the surrounding villages is already obvious with abandoned homes and gardens rapidly falling into decay. Around 150,000 people will not be able to go back to their homes for years to come and many may never be able to return at all.Locations:East Asia-Fukushima Prefecture-Iitate-JapanDate:1 Jun, 2014Credit:© Robert Knoth / GreenpeaceMaximum size:8713px X 7100pxKeywords:Day-Forests (topography)-Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant-KWCI (GPI)-Nuclear (campaign title)-Nuclear accidents-Nuclear radiation-Outdoors-Plants-TreesShoot:Contaminated Landscapes near FukushimaIn northern Japan the soil in many forests, agricultural fields and on mountain slopes is now contaminated by radioactive elements. As a result these have become vast reservoirs of radioactive particles which are absorbed by the trees and plants. With the annual shedding of leaves, the radioactive pollution ends up in the soil once more and will get absorbed time after time -and for decades to come, until it finally breaks down-. It is this cycle of continued pollution that will be Fukushima’s ultimate legacy, preventing the use of agricultural lands and forests, thus virtually ending a traditional way of life for many of its inhabitants. Decontaminating agricultural lands and gardens provides no definite solution as areas previously decontaminated are already being re-polluted by groundwater and through migration of soil from mountain slopes and forests –areas so vast they can never be thoroughly cleaned.Related Collections:Fukushima Shadowlands5th Anniversary of Fukushima Disaster in Japan5th Anniversary of Fukushima Nuclear Disaster (Photos & Videos)