Fukushima visit for University of Glasgow scientist

A University of Glasgow academic is flying to Japan to visit the Fukushima Prefecture, where three nuclear reactors were seriously damaged in the earthquake and subsequent tsunami of March 2011. David Sanderson, Professor of Environmental Physics at the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), will be in Japan between 28 February and 9 March following an invitation from Fukushima University, where scientists are working to map and measure the area's radiation levels. He will tour Fukushima City and surrounding areas and deliver speeches to academics and government officials on environmental radiation and how mobile and airborne gamma ray spectrometry techniques can be used to map areas affected by radiation. He will take a portable gamma ray sensor system to demonstrate a method of radiation measurement developed at SUERC. The information collected by the backpack-mounted sensor can be used to build a visual map of the radiation levels in any given location. Professor Sanderson expects to examine radiation levels on the campus of Fukushima University and in areas within the prefecture which have been affected by the accident. Significant amounts of radioactive material were released into the air last year when three of the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant melted down and caused explosions.