OU signs cooperative agreement for radiation research with Okuma, Fukushima

Osaka University and Okuma Town, Fukushima signed a cooperative agreement for radiation research and human resource development on June 4.

The signing ceremony was held at Okuma Town Hall , with OGAWA Tetsuo (Director, Osaka University Institute for Radiation Sciences) signing the agreement online.

Under this agreement, Osaka University will establish the Okuma International Center for Environmental Research as a hub for its environmental radiation research to perform long-term research on radioactive materials and their effects on life in national forests and areas excluded from land use planning in Okuma.

Since researchers from overseas are also expected to come to the Center, OU will choose the vicinity of Ono Station in Okuma as a planned construction site, which has good access to transportation.

Osaka University will hold special lessons in Okuma Town this August. These lessons will include on-site inspection visits to the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and "difficult-to-return zones" as well as radiation dosimetry training, which is possible only in Okuma, deepening students' knowledge regarding nuclear disasters and radiation.

The online signing ceremony (From left: Director OGAWA Tetsuo, Okuma Town Mayor YOSHIDA Jun)

From left: Director Ogawa, Mayor Yoshida

OU students performing a field survey in Okuma Town