Long-term predictions of ambient dose equivalent rates after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

Kinase, Sakae   ; Takahashi, Tomoyuki*; Saito, Kimiaki  

To predict how exposure situations might change in the future and to analyze radiation protection strategies and rehabilitation programmes in Fukushima, prediction models were developed for ambient dose equivalent rate distributions within the 80 km-radius around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Model parameters such as the ecological half-lives for the short-/long-term components and the fractional distribution of short-term component were evaluated using ambient dose equivalent rates through car-borne surveys. It was found that the ecological half-lives among land-use differ only slightly, whereas the fractional distributions of the short-term component are dependent on land-use. Distribution maps of ambient dose equivalent rates for the next 30 years after the accident, created by the prediction models were found to be useful for follow-up of the radiological situation since they provide information on the space variation of the ambient dose equivalent rates in inhabited areas.