Factors controlling the spatiotemporal variation of Cs in seabed sediment off the Fukushima coast; Implications from numerical simulations

Misumi, Kazuhiro*; Tsumune, Daisuke*; Tsubono, Takaki*; Tateda, Yutaka*; Aoyama, Michio*; Kobayashi, Takuya ; Hirose, Katsumi*

Major controls on spatiotemporal variations of Cs activity in seabed sediments derived from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident during the first year after the accident were investigated by using numerical simulations. The model successfully reproduced major features of the observed spatiotemporal variations of Cs activity in sediments. The spatial pattern of Cs in sediments, which mainly reflected the history of Cs activity in the bottom water overlying the sediment and the sediment particle size distribution, became established during the first several months after the accident. Taking Cs activities in sediments in the coastal area and in the vicinity of the power plant into account, increased the simulated total inventory of Cs in sediments off the Fukushima coast to a value on the order of 10 Bq.