TY - JOUR

T1 - Radionuclides in surface waters around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi NPP one month after the accident

T2 - Evidence of significant tritium release into the environment

AU - Querfeld, Rebecca

AU - Pasi, Anna Elina

AU - Shozugawa, Katsumi

AU - Vockenhuber, Christof

AU - Synal, Hans Arno

AU - Steier, P.

AU - Steinhauser, Georg

N1 - Funding Information: We kindly thank the Siebold-Sasse Foundation for financial support for A-EP. Thanks are due to Alex Hölzer, Monika Gorny, and Beate Riebe (all IRS) for their help with iodine sample preparation and data evaluating.

PY - 2019/11/1

Y1 - 2019/11/1

N2 - Following the Fukushima nuclear accident (2011), radionuclides mostly of volatile elements (e.g., 131I, 134,137Cs, 132Te) have been investigated frequently for their presence in the atmosphere, pedosphere, biosphere, and the Pacific Ocean. Smaller releases of radionuclides with intermediate volatility, (e.g., 90Sr), have been reported for soil. However, few reports have been published which targeted the contamination of surface (fresh) waters in Japan soon after the accident. In the present study, 10 surface water samples (collected on April 10, 2011) have been screened for their radionuclide content (3H, 90Sr, 129I, 134Cs, and 137Cs), revealing partly unusually high contamination levels. Especially high tritium levels (184 ± 2 Bq·L−1; the highest levels ever reported in scientific literature after Fukushima) were found in a puddle water sample from close to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The ratios between paddy/puddle water from one location only a few meters apart vary around 1% for 134Cs, 12% for 129I (131I), and around 40% for both 3H and 90Sr. This illustrates the adsorption of radiocesium on natural minerals and radioiodine on organic substances (in the rice paddy), whereas the concentration differences of 3H and 90Sr between the two waters are mainly dilution driven.

AB - Following the Fukushima nuclear accident (2011), radionuclides mostly of volatile elements (e.g., 131I, 134,137Cs, 132Te) have been investigated frequently for their presence in the atmosphere, pedosphere, biosphere, and the Pacific Ocean. Smaller releases of radionuclides with intermediate volatility, (e.g., 90Sr), have been reported for soil. However, few reports have been published which targeted the contamination of surface (fresh) waters in Japan soon after the accident. In the present study, 10 surface water samples (collected on April 10, 2011) have been screened for their radionuclide content (3H, 90Sr, 129I, 134Cs, and 137Cs), revealing partly unusually high contamination levels. Especially high tritium levels (184 ± 2 Bq·L−1; the highest levels ever reported in scientific literature after Fukushima) were found in a puddle water sample from close to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The ratios between paddy/puddle water from one location only a few meters apart vary around 1% for 134Cs, 12% for 129I (131I), and around 40% for both 3H and 90Sr. This illustrates the adsorption of radiocesium on natural minerals and radioiodine on organic substances (in the rice paddy), whereas the concentration differences of 3H and 90Sr between the two waters are mainly dilution driven.

KW - H

KW - Fukushima nuclear accident

KW - Radiocesium

KW - Radioiodine

KW - Radiostrontium

KW - Surface water

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85068204374&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.362

DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.362

M3 - Article

C2 - 31279192

AN - SCOPUS:85068204374

VL - 689

SP - 451

EP - 456

JO - Science of the Total Environment

JF - Science of the Total Environment

SN - 0048-9697

ER -