Radiocarbon concentration in modern tree rings from Fukushima, Japan

Xu, Sheng; Cresswell, A.J.; Dunbar, Elaine; Freeman, Stewart P.H.T.; Hastie, Helen; Hou, Xiaolin; Jacobsson, Piotr; Naysmith, Philip; Sanderson, David

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2015.04.004

Cited by 26 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…The former pattern suggests that the local atmospheric 14 C record follows the exponential decline in global atmospheric 14 CO 2 , whereas the latter reveals that the atmospheric 14 C in the studied area might have been slightly affected by additional local fossil fuel combustion, as demonstrated in Iwaki8. In comparison with the global atmospheric 14 C levels, the 14 C depletion observed in Iwaki has been attributed to the two nearby expressways, open since the 1990s8. This may not be the case for the samples from Takase and Ogaki (both of which are close to the Joban expressway), because part of the expressway construction, between Joban-Tomioka IC (just south of FDNPP) and Yamamoto IC (north of Soma city), was not completed at the time of the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Figure 2 shows the temporal variations in 14 C specific activity in tree rings from the six sites in this study, together with global atmospheric 14 CO 2 values from SIL, and 14 C measurements from local tree rings in Iwaki and Okuma89. The excess 14 C activity in this study can be calculated by subtracting the ambient global atmospheric 14 C values at SIL, with any resulting negative values most likely caused by a local fossil fuel effect on the 14 C activity (Table 1).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our previous work on 14 C analysis of tree rings from a 30-year-old Japanese cedar from Iwaki, approximately 50 km southwest of the FDNPP8, a local fossil fuel effect on the 14 C activity was observed and identified as originating from increasing traffic on two nearby expressways that were opened in the 1990 s. In addition, a small but visible 14 C increase observed in the 2011 tree ring was postulated to be caused by the release from the Fukushima accident. However, our later study on a 50-year-old Japanese cedar from Okuma, ~1 km southwest of the FDNPP confirmed significant 14 C discharges during normal operations of the FDNPP between 1976 and 2010, but no visible 14 C excess in 2011, at least in the southwest direction9.…”

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confidence: 96%

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Radiocarbon Releases from the 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Accident

Cresswell

Dunbar

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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Radiocarbon activities were measured in annual tree rings for the years 2009 to 2015 from Japanese cedar trees (Cryptomeria japonica) collected at six sites ranging from 2.5–38 km northwest and north of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. The 14C specific activity varied from 280.4 Bq kg−1 C in 2010 to 226.0 Bq kg−1 C in 2015. The elevated 14C activities in the 2009 and 2010 rings confirmed 14C discharges during routine reactor operations, whereas those activities that were indistinguishable from background in 2012–2015 coincided with the permanent shutdown of the reactors after the accident in 2011. High-resolution 14C analysis of the 2011 ring indicated 14C releases during the Fukushima accident. The resulted 14C activity decreased with increasing distance from the plant. The maximum 14C activity released during the period of the accident was measured 42.4 Bq kg−1 C above the natural ambient 14C background. Our findings indicate that, unlike other Fukushima-derived radionuclides, the 14C released during the accident is indistinguishable from ambient background beyond the local environment (~30 km from the plant). Furthermore, the resulting dose to the local population from the excess 14C activities is negligible compared to the dose from natural/nuclear weapons sources.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 96%

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Radiocarbon Releases from the 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Accident

Cresswell

Dunbar

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

Self Cite

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“…As shown in Figure 4, the values at the position of the Ws01 and Ws02 samples are around or exceed 1000‰ as the Δ 14 C value, and it is reported that a value of around 1000‰ would deliver an important radiation dose component to the public (Povinec et al 2015). Recent research on the effect of 14 C from the Fukushima NPP accident shows a similar result (Park et al 2015;Xu et al 2015). However, even though such a disastrous accident may not occur in the future, the results of this study would be helpful as past data and could be used if there were a future incident.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 64%

Radiocarbon Data from the Vicinity of Four South Korean Nuclear Power Plants in 2013–2014

et al. 2017

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ABSTRACT. Radiocarbon ( 14 C) is a radionuclide generated mainly through neutron-induced reactions in all types of nuclear reactors. Since most of the 14 C released into the environment is in the form of gaseous emissions (CO 2 and hydrocarbons), terrestrial plants are the primary indicators of increased 14 C levels near nuclear power plants (NPPs). In 2013-2014, we collected samples of silver grasses (including common reed) and pine needles within 3 km of four South Korean NPP centers and measured 14 C activities using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) at Seoul National University. The highest 14 C activities were observed, respectively, in Wolsong > Hanul > Kori > Hanbit [220, 143, 127, and 123% modern carbon (pMC)].

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Cosmic ray event in 994 C.E. recorded in radiocarbon from Danish oak

Fogtmann-Schulz

Østbø

Nielsen

et al. 2017

Geophysical Research Letters

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We present measurements of radiocarbon in annual tree rings from the time period 980–1006 Common Era (C.E.), hereby covering the cosmic ray event in 994 C.E. The new radiocarbon record from Danish oak is based on both earlywood and latewood fractions of the tree rings, which makes it possible to study seasonal variations in 14C production. The measurements show a rapid increase of ∼10‰ from 993 to 994 C.E. in latewood, followed by a modest decline and relatively high values over the ensuing ∼10 years. This rapid increase occurs from 994 to 995 C.E. in earlywood, suggesting that the cosmic ray event most likely occurred during the period between April and June 994 C.E. Our new record from Danish oak shows strong agreement with existing Δ14C records from Japan, thus supporting the hypothesis that the 994 C.E. cosmic ray event was uniform throughout the Northern Hemisphere and therefore can be used as an astrochronological tie point to anchor floating chronologies of ancient history.

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Radiocarbon concentration in modern tree rings from Fukushima, Japan

Cited by 26 publications

References 20 publications

Radiocarbon Releases from the 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Accident

Radiocarbon Releases from the 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Accident

Radiocarbon Data from the Vicinity of Four South Korean Nuclear Power Plants in 2013–2014

Cosmic ray event in 994 C.E. recorded in radiocarbon from Danish oak

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