Occurrence of radioactive cesium-rich micro-particles (CsMPs) in a school building located 2.8 km south-west of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

Fueda, Kazuki; Komiya, Tatsuki; Minomo, Kenta; Horie, Kenji; Takehara, Mami; Yamasaki, Shinya; Shiotsu, Hiroyuki; Ohnuki, Toshihiko; Grambow, Bernd; Law, GarethT W; Ewing, RodneyC; Utsunomiya, Satoshi

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138566

Cited by 7 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Higaki et al 3 , 8 showed that the maximum ratio was approximately 4% in samples collected from face masks worn during the indoor cleaning of residences in the evacuation area near the FDNPP. Fueda et al 6 showed that the CsMP to total radiocesium radioactivity ratios in indoor dust at an elementary school in Okuma Town located 2.8 km south-west of the FDNPP was 4.48–38.9%. Compared to the values in these studies, the values in the present study were closer to those of Fueda et al 6 However, as mentioned above, tissue paper sampling might not be considered uniform sampling for soluble radiocesium or CsMPs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fueda et al 6 showed that the CsMP to total radiocesium radioactivity ratios in indoor dust at an elementary school in Okuma Town located 2.8 km south-west of the FDNPP was 4.48–38.9%. Compared to the values in these studies, the values in the present study were closer to those of Fueda et al 6 However, as mentioned above, tissue paper sampling might not be considered uniform sampling for soluble radiocesium or CsMPs. Furthermore, the proportion of CsMPs in the plume might not be uniform.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Radiocesium-bearing microparticles found in dry deposition fallout samples immediately after the Fukushima nuclear accident in the Kanto region, Japan

Takaku,

Higaki,

Hirota

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Radiocesium released by the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident still exists in the environment in two forms: adsorbed species on mineral particles in the soil and microparticles containing radiocesium mainly composed of silicate glass (CsMPs). CsMPs are dispersed not only around the FDNPP but also over a wide area of the Kanto region. The behavior and characteristics of CsMPs must be investigated to evaluate the impact of the FDNPP accident. Deposited particles including radiocesium were wiped from metal handrails on balconies and car hoods using tissue papers at six locations in the Kanto region (Tokai village, Ushiku City, Abiko City, Chiba City, Kawaguchi City, and Arakawa Ward) between March 15 and 21, 2011. CsMPs were isolated from the samples, and their characteristics were investigated. In total, 106 CsMPs derived from Unit 2 were successfully separated from 13 tissue paper samples. The radiation images of the two types of CsMPs discovered in Ushiku City demonstrate that CsMPs can easily become susceptible to fragmentation over time, even in the absence of weathering effects.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radiocesium-bearing microparticles found in dry deposition fallout samples immediately after the Fukushima nuclear accident in the Kanto region, Japan

Takaku,

Higaki,

Hirota

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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“…The potential impact of forest fires that may occur more frequently in the Fukushima region in response to increasing fuel load and global change should also be investigated, as they may lead to the release of 137 Cs into the local atmosphere as investigated in the Chernobyl-affected region (Evangeliou et al, 2014). Finally, the spatial pattern of deposition and the subsequent redistribution of microparticles containing radiocesium that were found in different environmental compartments and that may 650 lead to specific health risks if they are inhaled should also be further investigated (Fueda et al, 2023).…”

Section: Conclusion 625mentioning

confidence: 99%

Research and management challenges following soil and landscape decontamination at the onset of the reopening of the Difficult-To-Return Zone, Fukushima (Japan)

Evrard

Clergue

Chaboche

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Abstract. Twelve years after the nuclear accident that occurred at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant in March 2011, radiocesium contamination (with a large dominance of 137Cs, with a 30-years half-life) remains a major concern in various municipalities of Northeastern Japan. The Japanese authorities completed an unprecedented decontamination programme in residential and cultivated areas affected by the main radioactive plume (8953 km²). They implemented a complex remediation programme scheme relying on different decision rules depending on the waste type, its contamination level and its region of origin, after delineating different zones exposed to contrasted radiation rates. The central objective was not to expose local inhabitants to radioactive doses exceeding 1 mSv yr-1 in addition to the natural levels. At the onset of the full reopening of the Difficult-to-Return Zone in Spring 2023, the current review provides an update of a previous synthesis published in 2019 (Evrard et al., 2019). Although this ambitious remediation and reconstruction programme is almost completed, in the 12 municipalities of Fukushima Prefecture in which an evacuation order was imposed in at least one neighbourhood in 2011, from the 147,443 inhabitants who lived there before the accident, only 29.9 % of them had returned by 2020. Waste generated by decontamination and tsunami cleaning/demolition work is planned to have been fully transported to (interim) storage facilities by the end of 2023. The cost of the operations conducted between 2011–2020 for the so-called ‘nuclear recovery’ operations (including decontamination) was estimated by the Audit Board of Japan in 2023 to 6122.3 billion yen (~44 billion euro). Decontamination of cropland was shown to have impacted soil fertility, and potassium fertilization is recommended to limit the transfer of residual radiocesium to new crops. In forests that cover 71 % of the surface area of the Fukushima Prefecture and that were not targeted by remediation, radiocesium is now found in the upper mineral layer of the soil in a quasi-equilibrium state. Nevertheless, 137Cs concentrations in forest products (including wood for heating and construction, wild plants, wildlife game, mushrooms) often keep exceeding the threshold values authorized in Japan, which prohibits their exploitation in the area affected by the main plume. Radionuclides from forest were shown to be exported in dissolved and particle-bound forms to downstream river systems and floodplains, although multiple monitoring records showed the continuous decrease in radiocesium concentrations in both river water and sediment across the main plume between 2011–2021. Fish contamination is now generally found below the threshold limits although reputational damage remains a major concern for local fishing communities. The remobilisation of radiocesium from sediment accumulated in reservoirs of the region is also of potential concern as it may lead to secondary contamination of fish or irrigation waters supplied to decontaminated fields. Overall, this synthesis demonstrates the need to continue monitoring post-accidental radiocesium transfers in these environments and to keep sharing data in order to refine our predictive understanding of radiocesium mobility and consolidate the tools available to model contaminant transfers in ecosystems. In forests in particular, novel countermeasures and wood uses remain to be developed and tested. Furthermore, the hydrologic connectivity between ecosystems is of great influence on long term radiocesium transport. The consequences of extreme phenomena (e.g., typhoons, forest fires) that may become more frequent in the future as a result of global change in these contaminated environments should be further anticipated.

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Application of Biological Techniques in Mitigation of Radioactive Pollutant

Angelin,

Devika,

Selvanayaki

et al. 2024

Environmental Science and Engineering

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Occurrence of radioactive cesium-rich micro-particles (CsMPs) in a school building located 2.8 km south-west of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

Cited by 7 publications

References 32 publications

Radiocesium-bearing microparticles found in dry deposition fallout samples immediately after the Fukushima nuclear accident in the Kanto region, Japan

Radiocesium-bearing microparticles found in dry deposition fallout samples immediately after the Fukushima nuclear accident in the Kanto region, Japan

Research and management challenges following soil and landscape decontamination at the onset of the reopening of the Difficult-To-Return Zone, Fukushima (Japan)

Application of Biological Techniques in Mitigation of Radioactive Pollutant

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