Contaminated Forest in Iitate District

In 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.