Statistical analysis of simulated oceanic dispersion of dissolved radionuclide hypothetically released from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant using long-term oceanographic reanalysis data

Ikenoue, Tsubasa; Kawamura, Hideyuki; Kamidaira, Yuki

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 60(1), p.61 - 71, 2023/01

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2022.2079569

We conducted numerical simulations on the oceanic dispersion of dissolved radionuclide hypothetically released from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant using long-term oceanographic reanalysis data. We evaluated the characteristics and trends of dissolved radionuclide behavior in the ocean using statistical analysis based on the simulation results. The surface meridional current at the release point in the Fukushima coastal ocean and the Kuroshio Extension significantly affected the north-south transport of the surface radionuclide in the Fukushima coastal ocean and the eastward transport of the offshore surface radionuclide, respectively. Because the surface kinetic energy in the coastal to the offshore area was larger, the range of the dispersed surface radionuclide tended to be larger. In summer (July-September), the increased frequency radionuclide entrainment by the Kuroshio Extension because of the surface southward radionuclide transport in the Fukushima coastal ocean and the large surface kinetic energy caused a large dispersed surface radionuclide. In winter (January-March), the decreased frequency radionuclide entrainment by the Kuroshio Extension because of the surface northward radionuclide transport in the Fukushima coastal ocean and the small surface kinetic energy caused a small dispersed surface radionuclide.

A Modeling study on the oceanic dispersion and sedimentation of radionuclides off the coast of Fukushima

Kamidaira, Yuki; Uchiyama, Yusuke*; Kawamura, Hideyuki; Kobayashi, Takuya; Otosaka, Shigeyoshi*

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 238-239, p.106724_1 - 106724_16, 2021/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2021.106724

A three-dimensional oceanic dispersion model considering the migration of radionuclides between seawater and sediments was developed. The migration mechanism of dissolved Cs-137 originating from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident to sediments was investigated. The comparison between the model and the observed data showed that the model can adequately reproduce the ocean structure and the concentration of Cs-137 in seawater and sediments. Cs-137 distribution in the sediment off the Fukushima coast was formed mainly owing to adsorption from the dissolved phase by June 2011, when the impact of the direct oceanic Cs-137 release from FNPP1 was remarkable.

Dynamical response of transition-edge sensor microcalorimeters to a pulsed charged-particle beam

Okumura, Takuma*; Azuma, Toshiyuki*; Bennet, D. A.*; Caradonna, P.*; Chiu, I.-H.*; Doriese, W. B.*; Durkin, M. S.*; Fowler, J. W.*; Gard, J. D.*; Hashimoto, Tadashi; et al.

IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 31(5), p.2101704_1 - 2101704_4, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2021.3067793

A superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeter is an ideal X-ray detector for experiments at accelerator facilities because of good energy resolution and high efficiency. To study the performance of the TES detector with a high-intensity pulsed charged-particle beam, we measured X-ray spectra with a pulsed muon beam at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) in Japan. We found substantial temporal shifts of the X-ray energy correlated with the arrival time of the pulsed muon beam, which was reasonably explained by pulse pileup due to the incidence of energetic particles from the initial pulsed beam.

Ocean current data obtained by Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler across the Tsugaru Strait (Joint research)

Kawamura, Hideyuki; Hirose, Naoki*; Nakayama, Tomoharu*; Ito, Toshimichi

JAEA-Data/Code 2021-004, 34 Pages, 2021/05

JAEA-Data-Code-2021-004.pdf:3.72MB

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency measured the ocean current across the Tsugaru Strait using an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler attached on a ferryboat from October 1999 to January 2008. The characteristics of the ocean current in the Tsugaru Strait must be understood for predicting oceanic dispersion of radioactive materials released from nuclear facilities around the strait. Furthermore, it is critical to elucidate the mechanism of the Tsugaru Warm Current from an oceanography viewpoint. The dataset obtained in this investigation consists of daily ocean current data files that record the components of the current speed in the east-west and north-south directions from the surface layer to the bottom layer. The dataset stores 2,211 daily ocean current data files, despite some data periods missing from October 1999 to January 2008. In this study, information on the dataset is described for users to analyze the dataset properly for their purposes. Section 1 provides the background and purpose of the ocean current measurement, Section 2 explains the methodology of measurement using an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler, and Section 3 explains the record format of the daily ocean current data files and data acquisition rate and presents analysis results. Finally, Section 4 concludes this study.

Predictability of a short-term emergency assessment system of the marine environmental radioactivity

Kawamura, Hideyuki; Kamidaira, Yuki; Kobayashi, Takuya

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 57(4), p.472 - 485, 2020/04

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2019.1676836

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency developed a Short-Term Emergency Assessment system of the Marine Environmental Radioactivity (STEAMER) to predict the oceanic dispersion of radionuclides in the ocean around Japan. The purpose of this study is to validate the predictability of STEAMER using oceanographic forecast and reanalysis data, which were saved for past several years. Results of oceanic dispersion simulations that are driven by oceanographic reanalysis data are assumed to be true solutions. Oceanic dispersion simulations are conducted for Cs-137 released hypothetically from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The predictability of STEAMER is quantitatively examined for the length of the forecast period. Ensemble forecast simulations are also conducted to successfully improve the predictability of STEAMER.

Penetration of I released from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in the western North Pacific Ocean

Suzuki, Takashi; Otosaka, Shigeyoshi; Kuwabara, Jun; Kawamura, Hideyuki; Kobayashi, Takuya

JAEA-Conf 2018-002, p.103 - 106, 2019/02

https://doi.org/10.11484/jaea-conf-2018-002

To investigate the dynamics of radionuclides in the ocean released by the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F), vertical distributions of I at three stations in the western North Pacific was revealed. The 1F accident-derived I existed within the mixed layer at 3 stations. The maximum layer of the 1F accident-derived I existed at the depth of 370 m - 470 m at the most southern station. Considering the dissolved oxygen concentration and the current velocity arround the station, the maximum layer of the 1F accident-derived I would be fromed that I which existed in the surface seawater at other area of observation point was carried to the depth of 370 m - 470 m by the fast downward flow.

Submesoscale mixing on initial dilution of radionuclides released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

Kamidaira, Yuki; Uchiyama, Yusuke*; Kawamura, Hideyuki; Kobayashi, Takuya; Furuno, Akiko

Journal of Geophysical Research; Oceans (Internet), 123(4), p.2808 - 2828, 2018/04

https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JC013359

We developed a submesoscale eddy-resolving oceanic dispersal modeling system consisting of a double nested oceanic downscaling model and an offline oceanic radionuclides dispersion model to investigate influences of submesoscale coherent structures (SCSs) and associated ageostrophic secondary circulations (ASCs) on the three-dimensional (3D) dispersal and initial dilution of the dissolved radioactive Cs accidentally released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP1) occurred since March 2011. The extensive model-data comparison demonstrates that the elaborated innermost high-resolution model at a lateral grid resolution of 1 km successfully reproduces transient mesoscale oceanic structures, the Kuroshio path and stratification, and spatiotemporal variations of 3D Cs concentrations. These SCSs and ASCs occurred primarily due to shear instability with baroclinic instability as the secondary mechanism, according to energy conversion and spectral analyses. The vertical Cs flux analysis was performed with decomposition of the variables into the mean, mesoscale, and submesoscale components using frequency and wavenumber filters. The vertical Cs flux analysis explained that 84% of the FNPP1-derived Cs was transported downward below the mixed layer by eddies, with the major contributions from ASCs induced by submesoscale eddies.

Development of a short-term emergency assessment system of the marine environmental radioactivity around Japan

Kobayashi, Takuya; Kawamura, Hideyuki; Fujii, Katsuji*; Kamidaira, Yuki

Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 54(5), p.609 - 616, 2017/05

https://doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2017.1286272

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency has, for many years, been developing a radionuclide dispersion model for the ocean, and has validated the model through application in many sea areas using oceanic flow fields calculated by the ocean model. The Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station accident caused marine pollution by artificial radioactive materials to the North Pacific, especially to coastal waters northeast of mainland Japan. In order to investigate the migration of radionuclides in the ocean caused by this severe accident, studies using marine dispersion simulations have been carried out by JAEA. Based on these as well as the previous studies, JAEA has developed the Short-Term Emergency Assessment system of Marine Environmental Radioactivity (STEAMER) to immediately predict the radionuclide concentration around Japan in case of a nuclear accident.

Modeling the drift of Japan Tsunami Marine Debris (JTMD); An Application of high computing simulation and data assimilation

Kamachi, Masafumi*; Ishikawa, Yoichi*; Kawamura, Hideyuki; Maximenko, N.*; Hafner, J.*; MacFadyen, A.*

Techno-Ocean 2016 (Techno-Ocean), p.599 - 602, 2016/10

https://doi.org/10.1109/Techno-Ocean.2016.7890726

The tsunami that followed the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 caused a large amount of debris to flow out into the North Pacific, mainly from the Tohoku district, Japan. We conducted drift simulations to monitor and predict the trajectory of the tsunami debris. The results suggested that the tsunami debris was mainly transported eastward by the Kuroshio Extension and prevailing westerly winds, spreading in a north-south direction by ocean eddies and storms. As for the tsunami debris with high buoyancy, it was shown to be strongly influenced by ocean surface winds as well as ocean currents, reaching the west coast of the North American continent around the fall of 2011.

Drift simulation of tsunami debris in the North Pacific

Kawamura, Hideyuki; Kobayashi, Takuya; Nishikawa, Shiro*; Ishikawa, Yoichi*; Usui, Norihisa*; Kamachi, Masafumi*; Aso, Noriko*; Tanaka, Yusuke*; Awaji, Toshiyuki*

Global Environmental Research (Internet), 18(1), p.81 - 96, 2014/09

A drift simulation of tsunami debris flushed out from the Tohoku district, Japan, into the North Pacific due to the tsunami on March 11, 2011, has been conducted to monitor and forecast the drift path over the North Pacific. Results showed that tsunami debris was first transported eastward by the intense Kuroshio Extension and westerly, spreading in the north and south directions by both an energetic ocean eddy and a storm track over the ocean. Tsunami debris with larger windage was transported over the North Pacific by ocean surface wind rather than ocean current and arrived at the west coast of the North American Continent in the fall of 2011. Tsunami debris located near the North American Continent migrated, associated with the basin-scale seasonal change in the atmospheric pressure pattern. Our forecast run suggested that the tsunami debris belt will be formed from the North American Continent in the east to the Philippines in the west.