Imaging plant leaves to determine changes in radioactive contamination status in Fukushima, Japan.

Hiroo Nakajima, Mamoru Fujiwara, Isao Tanihata, Tadashi Saito, Norihiro Matsuda, Takeshi Todo

Health physics 2014 May

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The chemical composition of plant leaves often reflects environmental contamination. The authors analyzed images of plant leaves to investigate the regional radioactivity ecology resulting from the 2011 accident at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Japan. The present study is not an evaluation of the macro radiation dose per weight, which has been performed previously, but rather an image analysis of the radioactive dose per leaf, allowing the capture of various gradual changes in radioactive contamination as a function of elapsed time. In addition, the leaf analysis method has potential applications in the decontamination of food plants or other materials.

Citation

Hiroo Nakajima, Mamoru Fujiwara, Isao Tanihata, Tadashi Saito, Norihiro Matsuda, Takeshi Todo. Imaging plant leaves to determine changes in radioactive contamination status in Fukushima, Japan. Health physics. 2014 May;106(5):565-70