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This paper evaluates how geographical theories of scale can give a more robust understanding of the governance of complex environmental risks. We assess the case of fisheries in Iwaki City, Fukushima Prefecture in Japan following the 2011 nuclear disaster. Fisheries in Iwaki and Fukushima more widely are operating on a trial basis as understanding of the marine radiation situation becomes clearer, however questions remain over whether consumers will buy produce and to what extent full-scale fisheries will resume. Based on empirical fieldwork undertaken in Fukushima plus supporting documentary analysis, we construct a scalar account of post-disaster Iwaki fisheries. We use this to argue that framing post-disaster fisheries governance at the municipal scale rather than the prefectural scale has opened up opportunities for enacting the more two-way forms of risk governance that contemporary environmental issues may require. We also argue locally-situated ‘experts’ (e.g. fisheries extension officers and citizen science groups) play a key role in negotiating citizens’ and fishers’ relationships with larger-scale scientific discourses due to their ability to work across scales, despite having less techno-scientific expertise than their national-level counterparts. In turn, we suggest that in governance of complex environmental issues, policymakers ought to (a) consider how community-level expectations may differ from risk governance processes developed at larger scales; (b) identify key institutions or figures who can work across scales and support them accordingly; and (c) show cognisance to the social effects that may arise from spatial demarcation of environmental problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multiscale data integration method to estimate the spatial distribution of air dose rates in the regional scale around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. We integrate various types of datasets, such as ground-based walk and car surveys, and airborne surveys, all of which have different scales, resolutions, spatial coverage, and accuracy. This method is based on geostatistics to represent spatial heterogeneous structures, and also on Bayesian hierarchical models to integrate multiscale, multi-type datasets in a consistent manner. The Bayesian method allows us to quantify the uncertainty in the estimates, and to provide the confidence intervals that are critical for robust decision-making. Although this approach is primarily data-driven, it has great flexibility to include mechanistic models for representing radiation transport or other complex correlations. We demonstrate our approach using three types of datasets collected at the same time over Fukushima City in Japan: (1) coarse-resolution airborne surveys covering the entire area, (2) car surveys along major roads, and (3) walk surveys in multiple neighborhoods. Results show that the method can successfully integrate three types of datasets and create an integrated map (including the confidence intervals) of air dose rates over the domain in high resolution. Moreover, this study provides us with various insights into the characteristics of each dataset, as well as radiocaesium distribution. In particular, the urban areas show high heterogeneity in the contaminant distribution due to human activities as well as large discrepancy among different surveys due to such heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

7-Methyl-2H-1,5-benzodioxepin-3(4H)-one (Calone®) is used in fragrances to impart a marine note. It is produced industrially at volumes requiring repeated dose and developmental/reproductive toxicology data (OECD TG 422) under European chemicals legislation (i.e., REACH). Additionally, Japanese chemicals legislation requires evaluation of Calone® biodegradability and identification of metabolites in an environmental biodegradation test. 7-Methyl-2H-1,5-benzodioxepin-3-ol (Calol) was the sole metabolite identified following biodegradation and a 28-day repeated dose toxicity study (OECD TG 407) would normally be required to support registration in Japan. The current paper presents results showing no adverse effects in the parental, reproductive, or developmental phases of an OECD TG 422 study following dietary administration of Calone® to rats at targeted doses of up to 1000 mg/kg/day. The No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL) was the highest administered dose of 791 and 922 mg/kg/day for males and females, respectively. An i n vitro metabolism study conducted with rat and human liver microsomes demonstrated that greater than 90% of Calone® was metabolically reduced into Calol, the same metabolite observed in the environmental biodegradation test. Accordingly, the results from the OECD TG 422 study with Calone® are directly applicable to Calol and it would be expected to have the same NOAEL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]