More news from Japan about the environmental effects of the multiple meltdown/exploding reactor disaster of 2011. I have reported here previously some scientific papers documenting effects on insects -
Fukushima: New Research Documents Biological Harm
Fukushima: More Evidence of Biological Harm
This one is about trees. Specifically, fir trees.
Abstract:
After the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (F1NPP) in March 2011, much attention has been paid to the biological consequences of the released radionuclides into the surrounding area. We investigated the morphological changes in Japanese fir, a Japanese endemic native conifer, at locations near the F1NPP. Japaneses fir populations near the F1NPP showed a significantly increased number of morphological defects, involving deletions of leader shoots of the main axis, compared to a control population far from the N1NPP. The frequency of the defects corresponded to the radioactive contamination levels of the observation sites. A significant increase in deletions of the leader shoots became apparent in those that elongated after the spring of 2012, a year after the accident. These results suggest possibility that the contamination by radionuclides contributed to the morphological defects in Japanese fir trees in the area near the F1NPP.
[bolding mine]
Morphological defects in native Japanese fir trees around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant [full text].
Notice that the researchers claim right up front that the frequency of the defects they found were correlated to the contamination levels of their locality, not specifying measured line-of-sight distance between them and the Daiichi facility.
Now notice that the governmental mouthpiece Asahi Shimbun report on this research does attempt to contextualize the findings based upon line-of-sight distance between them and the Daiichi facility - the reporter asked an entirely irrelevant question, made obvious by the reply:
"...it is still unclear whether the phenomenon has been caused by radial rays," a team member concluded, adding that exposure to higher levels of radiation is 'one possible cause.'
Well, duh. This technicality applied by Asahi but not applied by the researchers involved to their own research report (they were quantifying by contamination levels), harkens back to a defensive maneuver the nuclear industry and its pets in various governments rely upon to confuse the public about exposures and notable effects by claiming the old Inverse Square Law applies to dumped/belched contamination the same way it applies to "shine" - pure gamma emitted from a single point-source. Which simply doesn't apply to the hundreds of quintillions of little bitty atom-sized point-sources (plus particulate conglomerations) that go out into the atmosphere during such releases and travel with the wind until they're right next to you or all the way inside of you when they self-destruct.
There is and always has been a difference between point-source radiation emissions and the gross contamination of the environment with radioactive isotopes/debris. Each and every atom of which is its own point-source.
It appears that those [otherwise] clever Japanese are trying to foist that ancient canard on their population...
The Environmental Ministry has been examining the impact of radial rays on local ecosystems since the nuclear crisis unfolded at the Fukushima nuclear plant four years ago. The NIRS study is part of those ministry efforts.
"Radial rays" [gamma photons] beaming outward in all directions just like the blinding flash from a WMD detonation. Effects that shrink via inverse square law every inch along the way (or get deflected by shielding) to wherever your deformed tree happens to be. Oy.
I first encountered this not-clever deception in the Kemeny and Rogovin Commission reports on the accident at TMI2 in 1979. Despite the fact that "plume monitoring" of released radionuclides had been constant (at first every 15 minutes, by helicopter!) during the first weeks after that meltdown, these government 'investigations' chose to draw a 50-mile radius circle with a compass on a map with the facility at its center, and divvied up the total amount they admitted was released evenly amongst all the human beings encompassed by that circle. Hell, they didn't even bother with the inverse square thing to make people in Baltimore County think they at least had some distance to protect them! Truth being that the plumes of radioactive contamination never went south in the first place, nobody in Baltimore County, MD (or any point west-southwest) got exposed to a significant degree at all. Those in the plume path north-northeast were exposed to lots. And developed the notable health effects to demonstrate it.
Bottom line in this latest reported research is the reporting of it is hamstrung by the imposed pre-condition that it must only be explainable via "radial rays" from the point-source (Daiichi) as "shine," not explainable by actual radiation levels from deposited radioactive contamination that got there in plumes of nuclear fuel and fission products no longer confined to the facility and still radiating the hell out of whatever they're in contact with - point blank - when they do the nuclear disintegration thing.
Still, it does show obvious and now documented effects, correlated to exposure levels in their immediate environments. I doubt anyone paying attention is surprised by the ol' Switcheroo. We can expect many more research reports in the future on effects, and hopefully understand how and why the nukes try to obfuscate reality by imposing an invalid model on the findings.