Trend of Cs concentration in river water in the medium term and future following the Fukushima Nuclear accident

福島第一原子力発電所事故後の中期および将来における河川水中の溶存態Cs濃度の推移

中西 貴宏   ; 佐久間 一幸   

Nakanishi, Takahiro; Sakuma, Kazuyuki

福島第一原子力発電所事故の影響を強く受けた2河川において、河川水中のCs濃度を2015年4月から2018年3月までの3年間調査した。その結果、事故後中期における、河川水中の溶存態および粒子態Cs濃度の減少傾向が明らかになった。両河川の溶存態および粒子態Cs濃度は同様の経時変化を示し、溶存Cs濃度は水温に関連した季節変動が観測されたが、時間とともに減少傾向を示した。溶存態Cs濃度の環境半減期は事故後初期の報告値よりも長く、溶存態Cs濃度の減少速度が時間とともに徐々に遅くなっていることを示唆した。溶存態Cs濃度の温度依存性は年々弱くなり、数十年にわたって同じ濃度レベルに留まる可能性が示された。

We conducted a three-year-long observation (April 2015 - March 2018) of the Cs concentration in two rivers affected by the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident. The result revealed a declining trend for the dissolved and particulate Cs concentration in river water in the medium term after the FDNPP accident. The dissolved and particulate Cs concentrations showed declining trends with time, even though large seasonal variations related to water temperature were also observed in the dissolved Cs concentrations. The environmental half-life for the dissolved Cs concentration was longer than previous reported values in the early phase, suggesting that the declining trend for the dissolved Cs concentration is gradually decreasing with time. The temperature dependency of the dissolved Cs concentration became weaker year by year, and the dissolved Cs concentration will likely remain at the same level for several decades.