Novel application of mosses transplanted in bags as biointerceptors of airborne radioactive dusts after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station accident

Di Palma, A.*; Adamo, P.*; Dohi, Terumi   ; Fujiwara, Kenso ; Hagiwara, Hiroki  ; Iijima, Kazuki  

Nine years after the FDNPP accident, in line with the strong efforts to devise ever more effective methods to monitor airborne radioactive dusts, in the present study we proposed for the first time the use of mosses transplanted in bags as biointerceptors of Cs and Cs in the evacuated zone of the Fukushima territory and according to a standardised protocol. The work aimed to investigate the ability of the moss transplants to accumulate radiocaesium (RCs) and therefore to act as RCs biointerceptors. To this purpose, the activity concentrations of RCs were measured in moss bags filled with 3 widely studied moss species (Sphagnum palustre, Hypnum cupressiforme, Hypnum plumaeforme) and exposed for 3, 6 and 9 weeks at 5 residential sites within Fukushima area. The moss bags accumulated Cs in all exposure sites and periods, with S. palustre acting as the most performant moss species.