The 24th Dialogue Meeting held at the Tomioka Town Art & Media Center on January 30, 2026

Since 2016, the Institute of Environmental Radioactivity (IER) has been holding dialogue meetings several times a year to share our research results with local communities. The 24th meeting was held at the Tomioka Town Art & Media Center under the theme “Forests, Rivers, and Fish: Nature’s Blessings in Tomioka Town,” and was attended by 36 people.

After the opening remarks by Director Nanba, Mr. MIYAKAWA Hiroshi, the Deputy Mayor of Tomioka Town, delivered a welcome address on behalf of the host municipality. Then, Professor Wada outlined the purpose of the meeting. In the first half of the session, Professor Yoschenko (with consecutive interpretation by Director Nanba) and Professor Takata of IER presented on the long-term dynamics of radionuclides in forest and marine environments. In the second half, Senior Researcher MORITA Takami of the Fisheries Resources Institute, who is conducting joint research with Professor Wada and others, reported on radioactivity surveys focusing on ayu (sweetfish) in the Tomioka River that remain under shipping restrictions. Additionally, Deputy Director SANADA Yukihisa of JAEA’s Fukushima Decommissioning Safety Engineering Research Institute presented on initiatives and future challenges for the decommissioning of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant at the Collaborative Laboratories for Advanced Decommissioning Science (CLADS) located in Tomioka Town.

During the discussion following the presentations, we received many questions and comments from the participants. In the post-event survey, we received encouraging feedback such as, “I was highly satisfied with the opportunity to hear specialized discussions,” “The presentations on each research topic were easy to understand,” and “I hope to see further discussion on how sweetfish can be utilized as a tourism resource.” We intend to incorporate these valuable opinions into our future research at IER.