IITATE, Fukushima Prefecture--Former residents of this village evacuated after the 2011 nuclear disaster returned to harvest rice, not to eat, but to glean data on levels of radioactivity.
IITATE, Fukushima Prefecture--Former residents of this village evacuated after the 2011 nuclear disaster returned to harvest rice, not to eat, but to glean data on levels of radioactivity.
By gathering reliable data on radioactive pollution in the rice plants, the villagers hope it will prove to be a vital step in a future decision to return for good.
The village located northwest of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant was evacuated in the aftermath of the 2011 triple meltdown at the Fukushima facility triggered by the earthquake and tsunami disaster.
The villagers, joined by volunteers from the Tokyo metropolitan area, formed the nonprofit group “Fukushima Saisei no Kai” (Resurrection of Fukushima) to raise the crop from 2012 to monitor the radioactivity in various rice types, including brown rice, polished rice, rice bran and rice straw.
The residents of Iitate are barred from returning home to live due to high radiation levels.
“Our feelings toward the local community will be shared by others when we join in (this project) together,” said Muneo Kanno, a 64-year-old Iitate evacuee who co-founded the group and participated in the Oct. 3 harvest, the fourth since the project first got under way.
The rice paddies were inundated with torrential rains in September. There were also downpours in nearby forests that have not been decontaminated.
“We will accumulate data on the consequences (of the heavy rains) and pass them down to the next generation,” Kanno said.