On August 2024, 8, Osaka University opened a permanent base in Okuma Town, Fukushima Prefecture, which was affected by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident during the Great East Japan Earthquake. Up until now, the university has conducted thyroid radiation exposure surveys for children and environmental radiation training in Okuma Town, but from now on, the permanent base will be used to promote new research and educational activities that will be useful for the reconstruction effort.
Immediately after the disaster, Osaka University, mainly through the Nuclear Physics Research Center, has been conducting support activities such as screening surveys of evacuees and thyroid radiation exposure surveys for children, as well as soil surveys. Since 2016, the university has been hosting an educational program for students called the "Fukushima Environmental Radiation Training" in collaboration with Iitate Village, Okuma Town, and Futaba Town. Students have learned about the environmental radiation situation in Fukushima Prefecture from both the natural science and social science perspectives. The program is open to students of all years and majors, as well as students from other universities and international students, and currently has over 200 participants.
The establishment of this permanent base was made possible by an offer from Okuma Town to lend the facility to Okuma Town in connection with the establishment of the Okuma Town Affiliated Universities Research and Support Center. It will be called the "Osaka University Fukushima Base." Environmental radiation training for 8 people, including students from other universities, is planned for August and September. Until now, this has only been possible twice a year, but the plan is to hold the training more frequently in the future. In addition, there are plans to expand the activities of "Mebae Tekijuku," an Osaka University program aimed at nurturing future researchers for elementary, junior high, and high school students. In the future, the base will be the focus of educational and research activities, as well as collaboration with other universities and institutions.
In 2011, the entire town of Okuma was forced to evacuate due to the Fukushima nuclear accident that occurred within the town. Evacuation orders were lifted in the Okawahara and Nakayashiki districts in the west of the town in 2019, and in the area around JR Ono Station in 2022, but many of the residents, who numbered more than 1 before the disaster, have yet to return. Of the approximately 1,000 people registered as residents in the town, only about 1 live within the town, and even if people without resident registration are included, the number remains at around 790.
Osaka University President Shojiro Nishio commented, "We hope that the base will carry out activities such as research and human resource development that will lead to solving various issues, and contribute to the recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake."
