He says that in decontaminating a house, one should first remove the leaves from trees around the house. Next, one should remove the topsoil and fallen leaves from around the home. After that, one should remove the bushes and other small plants, especially those under the eaves of the house. The drain by the road should be emptied of dirt before it is washed. For cleaning surfaces, a high-pressure hose is useful, but a scrubbing brush can be more effective in removing material.

"If levels haven't fallen even after repeated decontamination, one should consult an expert," Kurigami says....

Additionally, the National Institute for Rural Engineering has been working to drain mud containing radioactive cesium from rice paddy fields in the village of Iitate, Fukushima Prefecture. The JAEA has developed a technique to decontaminate pools using the mineral zeolite, which can absorb radioactive cesium, and is using the technique in Fukushima Prefecture.

Another issue is what to do with contaminated soil and other remains of decontamination work. According to the JRSM, they were able to reduce the radiation coming from contaminated soil by over 90 percent by putting it in plastic bags and burying it 10 to 20 centimeters in the earth. The national government says it will give instructions on what to do with contaminated soil, but for the time being, it is asking local governments to secure temporary storage sites. However, local governments are struggling to win the agreement of local residents to host such sites.

For areas with over 20 millisieverts of radiation per year, the national government has said it will handle decontamination work itself, but details and an estimate for completion have not been released.

You can run all the pressure washers in Japan day and night and they won't make the radiation go away. It will be with them for many decades.

Meanwhile, those seeking compensation from Tokyo Electric for the ruining of their lives are being handed a 60-page form and a 160-page instruction manual on how to fill it out. We hope there will be a special place in the afterworld for the people responsible for that.