Radionuclides in surface waters around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi NPP one month after the accident: Evidence of significant tritium release into the environment

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Authors

  • Rebecca Querfeld
  • Anna Elina Pasi
  • Katsumi Shozugawa
  • Christof Vockenhuber
  • Hans Arno Synal
  • P. Steier
  • Georg Steinhauser

External Research Organisations

  • University of Helsinki
  • University of Tokyo
  • ETH Zurich
  • University of Vienna
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Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)451-456
Number of pages6
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume689
Early online date24 Jun 2019
Publication statusPublished - 1 Nov 2019

Abstract

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.

Keywords

    H, Fukushima nuclear accident, Radiocesium, Radioiodine, Radiostrontium, Surface water

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cite this

Radionuclides in surface waters around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi NPP one month after the accident: Evidence of significant tritium release into the environment. / Querfeld, Rebecca; Pasi, Anna Elina; Shozugawa, Katsumi et al.
In: Science of the Total Environment, Vol. 689, 01.11.2019, p. 451-456.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Querfeld R, Pasi AE, Shozugawa K, Vockenhuber C, Synal HA, Steier P et al. Radionuclides in surface waters around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi NPP one month after the accident: Evidence of significant tritium release into the environment. Science of the Total Environment. 2019 Nov 1;689:451-456. Epub 2019 Jun 24. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.362
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title = "Radionuclides in surface waters around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi NPP one month after the accident: Evidence of significant tritium release into the environment",
abstract = "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.",
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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.

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