Outcomes of Fukushima: Biological effects of radiation on nonhuman species

摘要

Three years have passed since the nuclear power plant in Fukushima faced meltdown in March 2011. Twenty-five years earlier, in April of 1986, a tragic nuclear accident of the same magnitude of 7 on the International Nuclear Disaster Scale (INDS) occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukraine. Following the Chernobyl event, biologists were able to collect biological specimen samples and data only after extensive delays. These delays in the outset of biological studies resulted in a loss of important information on the impacts of ionizing radiation to ecosystems and human populations. To avoid repeating such shortcomings, biologists in Japan, with the collaboration of the international scientific community, began in the summer of 2011 to study outcomes of the nuclear accident in Fukushima. The massive release of ionizing radiation to areas near nuclear power plants may cause major irreversible shifts in ecosystems and severe damage to human health, and understanding the risks and quantifying the outcomes of nuclear accidents is of global concern.