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

Nakanishi, Takahiro   ; Sakuma, Kazuyuki   

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.