Testing mosses exposed in bags as biointerceptors of airborne radiocaesium after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station accident

Di Palma, A.; Adamo, P.*; Dohi, Terumi; Fujiwara, Kenso; Hagiwara, Hiroki; Kitamura, Akihiro; Sakoda, Akihiro; Sato, Kazuhiko; Iijima, Kazuki

Chemosphere, 308, Part 1, p.136179_1 - 136179_13, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136179

The present study shows the use of mosses transplanted in bags, called as moss bags, as biosensors of airborne radioactive dusts in the environment of the evacuated zone of Fukushima. A standardized protocol was applied and three moss species were used. Background sites of Okayama Prefecture were used for comparison. In the Fukushima area, the moss bags were able to accumulate radiocaesium in all exposure sites and periods, with Sphagnum palustre moss acting as the most performant moss. The radiocaesium activity concentrations dectected in mosses were in strong agreement with the Cs deposition levels and decontamination status of each exposure site. The accumulation of soil-derived radiocaesium by moss bags was supported by autoradiography and electron microscopy analyses. The linear dependency of Cs accumulation with the exposure time allowed a radiocaesium quantitative assessment.

Radiocesium-bearing microparticles cause a large variation in Cs activity concentration in the aquatic insect (Tricoptera: Stenopsychidae) in the Ota River, Fukushima, Japan

Ishii, Yumiko*; Miura, Hikaru*; Jo, J.*; Tsuji, Hideki*; Saito, Rie; Koarai, Kazuma; Hagiwara, Hiroki; Urushidate, Tadayuki*; Nishikiori, Tatsuhiro*; Wada, Toshihiro*; et al.

PLOS ONE (Internet), 17(5), p.e0268629_1 - e0268629_17, 2022/05

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0268629

We investigated the variability in Cs activity concentration in individual aquatic insects in detritivorous caddisfly () and carnivorous dobsonfly () larvae from the Ota River, Fukushima. Caddisfly larvae showed sporadically higher radioactivity, whereas no such outliers were observed in dobsonfly larvae. Autoradiography and scanning electron microscopy analyses confirmed that these caddisfly larvae samples contained radiocesium-bearing microparticles (CsMPs), which are insoluble Cs-bearing silicate glass particles. CsMPs were also found in potential food sources of caddisfly larvae, such as periphyton and drifting particulate organic matter, indicating that larvae may ingest CsMPs along with food particles of similar size. Although CsMPs distribution and uptake by organisms in freshwater ecosystems is relatively unknown, our study demonstrates that CsMPs can be taken up by aquatic insects.

Impact of extreme typhoon events on the fluvial discharge of particulate radiocesium in Fukushima Prefecture

Nakanishi, Takahiro; Oyama, Takuya; Hagiwara, Hiroki; Sakuma, Kazuyuki

Journal of Coastal Research, 114(SI), p.310 - 314, 2021/10

https://doi.org/10.2112/JCR-SI114-063.1

The two huge typhoons in 2019, Hagibis and Bualoi, caused enormous flood damage to Fukushima. On the basis of field observations over 6 years in Ukedo River near the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, sediment and Cs discharges from the river catchment were quantitatively evaluated. Approximately 90% of annual sediment and Cs discharges in 2019 was occupied during the typhoons Hagibis and Bualoi events. This sediment discharge was almost twice than the discharge during the largest ever flood event since the Fukushima nuclear accident, caused by typhoon Etau in September 2015. However, Cs discharge during Hagibis and Bualoi events was two-thirds that of Etau event, because the particulate Cs concentration in river water decreased during the observation period. Moreover, Cs discharge during two typhoon events in 2019 accounted for only 0.1% of the catchment Cs deposition and the impact of radiocesium to the coastal area was extremely limited.

Study of the Li() reaction for the development of accelerator-based neutron sources

Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Sadamatsu, Hiroki*; Araki, Shohei*; Nakano, Keita*; Kawase, Shoichiro*; Kin, Tadahiro*; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Satoh, Daiki; Hagiwara, Masayuki*; Yashima, Hiroshi*; et al.

EPJ Web of Conferences, 239, p.20012_1 - 20012_4, 2020/09

https://doi.org/10.1051/epjconf/202023920012

Accelerator-based neutron sources induced by deuteron beams are attractive for study of nuclear transmutation of radioactive waste as well as radiation damage for fusion reactor materials. In the present work, we have carried out a Double Differential cross section (DDX) measurement for Li at 200 MeV in the Research Center for Nuclear Physics (RCNP), Osaka University. A deuteron beam accelerated to 200 MeV was transported to the neutron experimental hall and focused on a thin Li target. Emitted neutrons from the target were detected by two different-size EJ301 liquid organic scintillators located at two distances of 7 m and 20 m, respectively. The neutron DDXs were measured at six angles from 0 to 25). The neutron detection efficiencies of the detectors were calculated by SCINFUL-QMD code. We will present the results of the present DDX measurement and compare them with theoretical model calculations with DEURACS and PHITS.

Mineral composition characteristics of radiocesium sorbed and transported sediments within the Tomioka river basin in Fukushima Prefecture

Hagiwara, Hiroki; Konishi, Hiromi*; Nakanishi, Takahiro; Fujiwara, Kenso; Iijima, Kazuki; Kitamura, Akihiro

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 211, p.106042_1 - 106042_10, 2020/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2019.106042

Dose rate distributions across the flood plains in eastern Fukushima

Nakanishi, Takahiro; Oyama, Takuya; Hagiwara, Hiroki

KEK Proceedings 2017-6, p.107 - 111, 2017/11

https://lib-extopc.kek.jp/preprints/PDF/2017/1725/1725006.pdf

At riverbanks in six rivers (Odaka, Ukedo, Takase, Kuma, Tomioka and Kido rivers) of eastern Fukushima, dose rate distribution in the cross section had been observed from January 2013 to December 2016. Dose rates in the flood plain which were flooded periodically were different from the surroundings. In rivers without reservoirs (Odaka, Takase and Kuma rivers), dose rates in the flood plain were affected by average radiocesium inventory in the whole catchments. By contrast, in rivers with reservoirs (Ukedo, Tomioka and Kido rivers), dose rates in the flood plain were affected by those in the downstream area of reservoirs and the erosion effect.

Systematic measurement of double-differential neutron production cross sections for deuteron-induced reactions at an incident energy of 102 MeV

Araki, Shohei*; Watanabe, Yukinobu*; Kitajima, Mizuki*; Sadamatsu, Hiroki*; Nakano, Keita*; Kin, Tadahiro*; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Satoh, Daiki; Hagiwara, Masayuki*; Yashima, Hiroshi*; et al.

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research A, 842, p.62 - 70, 2017/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2016.10.043

Recently, deuteron incident reaction is expected to be used as a neutron source for study of radiation damage in fusion materials, boron neutron capture therapy, and so on. However, experimental data to validate the model is very few. In this work, double-differential neutron production cross sections (DDXs) for deuteron-induced reactions on Li, Be, C, Al, Cu, and Nb at 102 MeV were measured at forward angles 25 by means of a time of flight (TOF) method with NE213 liquid organic scintillators at the Research Center of Nuclear Physics (RCNP), Osaka University. The experimental DDXs and energy-integrated cross sections were compared with TENDL-2015 data and PHITS calculation. The PHITS calculation showed better agreement with the experimental results than TENDL-2015 for all target nuclei, although the shape of the broad peak around 50 MeV was not satisfactorily reproduced by the PHITS calculation.

Overview of JENDL-4.0/HE and benchmark calculations

Kunieda, Satoshi; Iwamoto, Osamu; Iwamoto, Nobuyuki; Minato, Futoshi; Okamoto, Tsutomu; Sato, Tatsuhiko; Nakashima, Hiroshi; Iwamoto, Yosuke; Iwamoto, Hiroki; Kitatani, Fumito; et al.

JAEA-Conf 2016-004, p.41 - 46, 2016/09

https://doi.org/10.11484/jaea-conf-2016-004

Neutron- and proton-induced cross-section data are required in a wide energy range beyond 20 MeV, for the design of accelerator applications. New evaluations are performed with recent knowledge in the optical and pre-equilibrium model calculations. We also evaluated cross-sections for p+Li and p+Be which have been highly requested from a medical field. The present high-energy nuclear data library, JENDL-4.0/HE, includes evaluated cross-sections for incident neutrons and protons up to 200 MeV (for about 130 nuclei). We overview substantial features of the library, i.e., (1) systematic evaluation with CCONE code, (2) challenges for evaluations of light nuclei and (3) inheritance of JENDL-4.0 and JENDL/HE-2007. In this talk, we also focus on the results of benchmark calculation for neutronics to show performance of the present library.

Fate of radiocesium in freshwater aquatic plants and algae in the vicinity of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

Sasaki, Yoshito; Funaki, Hironori; Iri, Shatei; Dohi, Terumi; Hagiwara, Hiroki

Limnology, 17(2), p.111 - 116, 2016/04

AA2015-0204.pdf:3.47MB

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10201-015-0471-6

The behavior of radiocesium (Cs) in aquatic plants (five species) and algae (three genera) that had been grown in a river (one sampling point) and ponds (four sampling points) in the area around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was investigated. The sediment-to-plant transfer factor (TF) was measured. For aquatic plants, the highest value was 5.55 for from the river; the lowest was 3.34 10 for from a pond. There were significant differences in the values for aquatic plants belonging to the same genus. The water-to-plant TF of filamentous algae ( sp.) and cyanobacteria (coexisting sp. and sp.) were 2.39 10 and 1.26 10, respectively. The Cs concentration of cyanobacteria fraction in pond water was 4.87 10 Bq/L, the same order of magnitude as the Cs concentration of pond water. Enrichment of radiocesium in cyanobacteria was not observed.

Shallow groundwater intrusion to deeper depths caused by construction and drainage of a large underground facility; Estimation using H, CFCs and SF as trace materials

Hagiwara, Hiroki; Iwatsuki, Teruki; Hasegawa, Takuma*; Nakata, Kotaro*; Tomioka, Yuichi*

Nihon Suimon Kagakkai-Shi, 45(2), p.21 - 38, 2015/07

https://doi.org/10.4145/jahs.45.21

This study evaluates a method to estimate shallow groundwater intrusion in and around a large underground research facility (Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory - MIU). Water chemistry, stable isotopes (D and O), tritium (H), chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF) in groundwater were monitored around the facility (from 20 m down to a depth of 500 m), for a period of 5 years. The results show that shallow groundwater inflows into deeper groundwater at depths of between 200-400 m. In addition, the content of shallow groundwater estimated using H and CFC-12 concentrations is up to a maximum of about 50%. This is interpreted as the impact on the groundwater environment caused by construction and operation of a large facility over several years. The concomitant use of H and CFCs is an effective method to determine the extent of shallow groundwater inflow caused by construction of an underground facility.