Japanese Use Wild Monkeys To Track Radiation 85
PolygamousRanchKid writes "Scientists in Japan are taking a novel approach to measuring the impact of radiation in a forest affected by the Fukushima nuclear crisis: enlisting the help of local wild monkeys. Takayuki Takahashi, a professor of robotic technology at Fukushima University, told CNN Wednesday his team was working on a collar fitted with a dosimeter to measure radiation levels that could be fitted to the monkeys before they are released back into the wild. Takahashi said the experiment would help researchers understand how radiation in the forest can affect human beings, as well as wild animals. While human scientists have been monitoring radiation levels from the air, the use of monkey 'assistants' will give them a clearer idea of conditions on the ground."
Re:Where have I heard this story before? (Score:4, Informative)
So which bit don't you like?
The bit where they catch a monkey already in the forest in question and let it go again?
Or the bit where instead of having recatch the monkey they make it so that the collar just falls off?
Re:Where have I heard this story before? (Score:5, Informative)
Japan reprocesses fuel rods. It has just completed building a large facility at Rokkaisho to deal with about 800 tonnes of fuel rods a year. Previously it sent fuel rods to Britain to be reprocessed as well as processing rods at a smaller prototype plant at Tokai. It does have a backlog of rods in store to deal with though.
Several reactors in Japan were built from the 1980s onwards -- the newest Japanese reactor, Tomari-3, a type-3 PWR in Hokkaido only started up for the first time in December 2009.