A Review on studies of the transport and the form of radionuclides in the fluvial environment

Matsunaga, Takeshi

The present report reviews a series of studies conducted in JAERI which have dealt with the behavior of atmospherically-derived radionuclides in a fluvial environment. The studies cited here firstly include investigations of the evaluation of the transport rate of the atmospherically-derived 137Cs, 210Pb and 7Be from the ground via a river to the downstream areas where the affected water is consumed. The studies validated i) the importance of suspended particulate materials in the fluvial discharge of those radionuclides, and ii) a methodology to estimate the discharge of those radionuclides. Secondly, studies in rivers and lakes in the vicinity of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant revealed the role of natural dissolved organics in affecting the dissolution and transport of 239,240Pu, 241Am through complexation to form soluble species with the aid of a chemical equilibrium model The same sort of a model was also applied successfully for the behavior of iron and manganese (hydr)oxides in river recharged aquifers which could bear riverborne radionuclides.