Weathering promotes the sorption of radiocesium in mafic minerals of river sediments in the Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

Hagiwara, Hiroki  ; Watanabe, Yusuke  ; Konishi, Hiromi*; Funaki, Hironori ; Fujiwara, Kenso ; Iijima, Kazuki 

Radiocesium (Cs and Cs) was sorbed on minerals and transported to river systems due to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Recently, the authors have reported that mafic minerals sorb Cs equally or more strongly than micaceous minerals in fine sands. We characterized mafic minerals and elucidated their weathering using electron microscopy to determine whether they can sorb Cs. The surface of hornblende particles is weathered and altered to vermiculite. The surface of micas is less weathered than that of hornblende, indicating the Cs activity concentrations of highly weathered mafic minerals are higher than those of micas in part of sampling site. The results indicate that the effects of Cs sorption for hornblende depend on the weathering product at the surface.