ISET-R News Letter
1/24/2013 Vol. 2, Issued By Onda Lab, University of Tsukuba

Fukushima Ocean Impacts Symposium:
Exploring the impacts of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant on the Ocean

Fukushima Ocean Impacts Symposium
Date: 2012 / 11 / 12-13
Place: University of Tokyo-Ito Internatinal Hall
Public Colloquium "Fukushima and the Ocean"Date: 2012 / 11 / 14
Place：University of Tokyo-Ito Internatinal Hall

“Fukushima Ocean Impacts Symposium: Exploring the Impacts of the Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Plant on the Ocean” , which was cohosted by Science Council of Japan, washeld at Ito International hall, University of Tokyo on Nov/12-13/2012.
Many experts, politicians, and media from in and out of Japan gathered in Symposium. There
were lectures, panel discussion and poster session by invited participants.
Since the Fukushima NPP accident, in order to understand the safety of outsea, coastal areaof the Western North Paciﬁc Ocean, and the causal relationship to the marine products andecosystem, research and analysis has been promoted by international experts and JapaneseLaboratories.
A number of investigations are carried out so far and the ﬁndings have become increasingly
apparent; however, people in Japan still remain a lot of basic questions and concerns.

■How long will the ocean pollution go on?
■Is it safe to eat ﬁsh?
■How much is the eﬀect on the health?

This symposium became an important meeting to consider measures for recognizing theproblems of the known and unknown in order to solve these basic questions of people andgive the information to them so that it can relieve their anxiety.
We had a heated discussion about the sea safety and the impact on the marine ecosystems
and human body of the radioactive materials which has been released by Fukushima Daiichi
NPP accident.
In the discussion, we made reports based on scientiﬁc veriﬁcation and conﬁrmed the importance of giving people easy-to-understand information on what we do know or what we do
not recognize yet.
Exchange of views of various subjects regarding signiﬁcant tasks such as risk assessment,
economic inﬂuence and policy agreement have been made by the invited participants.
In the public colloquium “Fukushima and the Ocean, which was held on the following day,the Panel of Experts made reports of what was discussed at this symposium. Additionally,
there was also discussion of the question-and-answer with media and participants by following ”Morss Colloquium Style” of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

The program of public colloquium on 14th are as follows.

Public Colloquium “Fukushima and the Ocean” Program
16:00 - 16:10 Opening remarks
Hiroshi NIINO (Ocean Research Institute, University of Tokyo)
16:10 - 16:20 Radionuclides in the Ocean
Ken BUESSELER, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
16:20 - 16:30 Radionuclides in Marine Biota
Jota KANDA, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology
16:40 - 16:50 Seafood Safety and Policy
Hiroyuki MATSUDA, Yokohama National University
16:50 - 17:00 Impacts on Human HealthJames SEWARD, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
17:10 - 17:20 The Role of the Media
Geoﬀ BRUMFIEL, Nature
17:30 - 19:00 Questions from the audience to panelists
Moderator: Hideaki SHIROYAMA, University of Tokyo
19:00 - 19:10 Closing remarks Ken BUESSELER
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Following the colloquium in Japan this time, we are planning to hold the second public
colloquium at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Massachusetts in 2013.
While information about the Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident is complicated, this symposium became a valuable opportunity to remind us of the importance of making the survey
result and information comprehensible to people as our responsibility.
The recording of symposium and colloquium will be available on the internet sometime
later.

Reported by Dr. Jian Zheng
National Institute of Radiological Sciences

《Related URL》
The Oceanographic Society of Japan: The Great East Japan earthquake Special Site
The Colloquium "Fukushima and the Ocean" The information about Open Lecture
http://www.kaiyo-gakkai.jp/sinsai/2012/10/the-colloquium-fukushima-and-the-ocean.html
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
The Accidents at Fukushima Dai-Ichi Exploring the Impacts of Radiation on the Ocean
http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=108096

Fukushima Ocean Impacts Symposium:
Highlight contributions of ISET-R study
Jian Zheng
National Institute of Radiological Sciences

To address the basic scientific questions and public concerns on the radionuclides
released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (PDNPP) accident, such as
their fate in the ocean, and their potential to impact marine ecosystems and humanhealth, a science symposium entitled “Fukushima Ocean Impacts Symposium: exploring the impacts of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants on the Ocean” was held on
November
12-13,
2012
inTokyo
University,
Tokyo,
Japan(http://www.whoi.edu/website/fukushima-symposium/overview). Through talks byinvited speakers，panel discussions, poster session, and ample open discussion, aninvited group of ca. 100 international participants, including scientists, policy makers
and media/communications experts, discussed risk assessments, economic impacts,
policy implications, and importantly, how to effectively communicate to the public.
Prof. Yuichi Onda (Head Investigator of ISET-R), Prof. Masatoshi Yamada (PrincipalInvestigator of ISET-R), Prof. Jota Kanda (Principal Investigator of ISET-R), andanother 9 scientists from the ISET-R (Interdisciplinary study on environmental transfer of radionuclides from the Fukushima Daiichi DPP accident) attended this scientificsymposium. The followed invited talk and posters were presented:
1.
J. Kanda, Long-term sources: to what extent are marine sediments, coastal groundwater, and rivers a source of ongoing contamination?
2.
M. Yamada, M. Aoyama, Y. Hamajima, M. Honda, Y. Kato, H. Kawakami, Y. Kumamoto, M. Kusakabe, H. Nagai, H. Tazoe, D. Tsumune, M. Uematsu, J. Zheng, Interdisciplinary study on environmental transfer of radionuclides from the Fukushima Daiichi
DPP accident: Theme 3, Fate of radionuclides in the ocean.
3.
M. Kusakabe, Distributions of Fukushima-derived radionuclides in seawater and sediments in the waters off Miyagi, Fukushima, and Ibaraki Prefectures, Japan-Resultsfrom the MEXT monitoring program.
4.
O. Evrard, Y. Onda, C. Chartin, J. Patin, I. Lefevre, S. Ayrault, P. Bonte, Tracking theorigin of contaminated sediment transported by rivers draining Fukushima radioactive
pollution plume from measurements of Ag-110m/Cs-137 ratio.

5.
S. Nagao, Pulse input of Cs-134 and Cs-137 from land to ocean in Fukushima area by
heavy rain events.
6.
Y. Onda, H. Kato, Project overview of ISET-R: Interdisciplinary study on environmental
transfer of radionuclides from the Fukushima Daiichi DPP accident.
These presentations covered a wide range of studies on Fukushima impacts in ocean,
including the current status of radionuclides contamination in seawater, sediments andmarine organisms, the long-term sources and fate of radionuclides in the ocean, and thepossible transport of radionuclides from land to ocean by the river runoff. More than one
year after the FDNPP accident, many studies found the levels of radioactivity in the sea
around the plant remain stable rather than continuous falling as expected. Contributions from the ISET-R project provided solid scientific basis for understanding theradioactive contamination in the ocean. Through the field monitoring and model simulation, it was suggested that different sources, such as the transport of radionuclides
from land to ocean by river runoff and coastal groundwater discharge, deposited highly
contaminated sediments (ca. 95 TBq radiocesium deposited in the sandy floor near theplant) functioning as a secondary source, and the possible continuous leaking of radioactivity from the plant, could be responsible for the long-term radioactive contaminationin the ocean.