Fate of radiocesium in freshwater aquatic plants and algae in the vicinity of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

Sasaki, Yoshito ; Funaki, Hironori ; Iri, Shatei; Dohi, Terumi   ; Hagiwara, Hiroki  

The behavior of radiocesium (Cs) in aquatic plants (five species) and algae (three genera) that had been grown in a river (one sampling point) and ponds (four sampling points) in the area around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was investigated. The sediment-to-plant transfer factor (TF) was measured. For aquatic plants, the highest value was 5.55 for from the river; the lowest was 3.34 10 for from a pond. There were significant differences in the values for aquatic plants belonging to the same genus. The water-to-plant TF of filamentous algae ( sp.) and cyanobacteria (coexisting sp. and sp.) were 2.39 10 and 1.26 10, respectively. The Cs concentration of cyanobacteria fraction in pond water was 4.87 10 Bq/L, the same order of magnitude as the Cs concentration of pond water. Enrichment of radiocesium in cyanobacteria was not observed.