So, in the event of nuclear fallout, we could seed mushrooms everywhere to clean it up? Maybe we should do that in Fukashima.

There is evidence some plants are better suited to certain heavy isotopes. Sunflowers, for example, were shown to draw cesium into their stalks [1]. The contaminated stalks would then be gathered and destroyed in a controlled manner to extract the radioactive ash.

However, in the case of Fukushima, the millions of sunflowers grown after the disaster started didn't seem to do much at all. [2]

[1] http://www.ecaa.ntu.edu.tw/weifang/cea/sunflowers.htm

[2] http://www.care2.com/causes/sunflowers-fail-in-nuclear-decon...

Just in case it wasn't clear: It's this phenomenon that made the sunflower an international icon of the anti-nuclear movement.

Plants don't help when we choose to incorporate their radiation into our bodies: Tobacco pulls radioactive polonium-210 from the soil and air[0]. It has been found to accumulate in the lungs and continue to emit alpha-particles.

[0] http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2008/08/29/radioacti...

Is there any indication why?

Why not? It worked in Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind[1].

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausica%C3%A4_of_the_Valley_of_...

Just a note, if you've only seen the movie but not read the graphic novel it was based on, try to find a copy! The movie only covers about the first 1/4 of the novel, which is more expansive thematically as well as in plot. In particular, the ending of the novel is much more ambivalent than the mostly simplistic moral of the movie.

(If someone is in SF I could lend it to them.)

Thank you, I'll add that to my list of things-to-read.

I have the movie on DVD and on the bonus material it was said that Miyazaki wanted to make the movie first. At that time anime that wasn't based on a graphic novel (or novels) was practically impossible to get into wide distribution. Hence, no funding was available.

So they started by writing the story in a form of graphic novel and had it published first. After a moderate success in manga form it was easier to get the deals for making the anime too.

The bonus material went far enough to state that without the film there wouldn't be Studio Ghibli. Personally I love the film. Even among the Ghibli productions it stands out as a great work of art.

And now I want to read the whole story.

But what do you do with the contaminated mushrooms ?

Collect and create a different kind of mushroom bomb.

Bury them deep underground. An deep abandoned mine would be good. They are not so radioactive you need serious security, but they do need to leave the environment for a while.

queue retro arcade music super Mario!

Burn them in an isolated manner to reduce volume/weight; and bury the ash as (mildly) radioactive waste - thus removing the harmful isotopes from a lifecycle that might end up in humans.

They would probably try to feed them to starving children in Africa.