Since 1998, USC has sponsored research related to the long term ecological and health consequences of the radioactive contaminants that were dispersed over vast expanses of Europe in 1986. This past year, the USC-CRI expanded its activities to include studies of the impacts on natural populations in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. This research is important for the understanding of long term consequences of radiation for ecosystem and human health and will be instrumental in predicting the environmental half-lives of these contaminants. This research is also of significance for hazard assessment related to industrial, military or terrorist nuclear incidents, and the effects of mutagens on evolutionary responses of natural populations.

Maps of Contaminated regions of Fukushima (left), Ukraine, Belarus and Russia (right), and Europe (below). Fukushima map courtesy of Shane Welch; other maps courtesy of the European Union.