The Air dose rate around the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant; Its spatial characteristics and temporal changes until December 2012

Mikami, Satoshi; Maeyama, Takeshi*; Hoshide, Yoshifumi*; Sakamoto, Ryuichi*; Sato, Shoji*; Okuda, Naotoshi*; Sato, Tetsuro*; Takemiya, Hiroshi; Saito, Kimiaki

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 139, p.250 - 259, 2015/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2014.08.020

Mechanism of radiation-induced reactions in aqueous solution of coumarin-3-carboxylic acid; Effects of concentration, gas and additive on fluorescent product yield

Yamashita, Shinichi; Baldacchino, G.*; Maeyama, Takuya*; Taguchi, Mitsumasa; Muroya, Yusa*; Lin, M.*; Kimura, Atsushi; Murakami, Takeshi*; Katsumura, Yosuke

Free Radical Research, 46(7), p.861 - 871, 2012/07

https://doi.org/10.3109/10715762.2012.684879

Radiation-induced reactions in aqueous solutions of a water-soluble coumarin derivative, coumarin-3-carboxyl acid (C3CA), have been investigated by pulse radiolysis with 35-MeV electron beam, final product analysis after Co -irradiations, and deterministic model simulations. It was found that C3CA reacts with the hydroxyl radical (OH) as well as the hydrated electron at nearly diffusion-controlled rate constants: 6.810 and 2.110 Ms, respectively. Reactivity of C3CA toward O was not confirmed. Production of a fluorescent molecule 7-hydroxy-coumarin-3-carboxylic acid (7OH-C3CA) was detected by a fluorescence spectrometer coupled with high performance liquid chromatography. Production yields of 7OH-C3CA were in a range from 0.025 to 0.18 (100 eV), depending on irradiation conditions. A variety of the yield with saturating gas, additive, and C3CA concentration implied that there are at least two pathways from scavenging reaction of C3CA toward OH to 7OH-C3CA: peroxidation reaction followed by elimination of perhydroxyl radical and disproportionation reaction. A reaction mechanism involving the two pathways was proposed and incorporated into the simulations, showing good explanation of experimentally measured 7OH-C3CA yields with a constant conversion factor from OH scavenging to 7OH-C3CA production, 4.7%, unless -BuOH is not added.

Production of a fluorescence probe in ion-beam radiolysis of aqueous coumarin-3-carboxylic acid solution, 1; Beam quality and concentration dependences

Maeyama, Takuya*; Yamashita, Shinichi; Baldacchino, G.*; Taguchi, Mitsumasa; Kimura, Atsushi; Murakami, Takeshi*; Katsumura, Yosuke

Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 80(4), p.535 - 539, 2011/04

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2010.11.013

Aqueous coumarin-3-carboxylic Acid (3CCA) solutions were irradiated with eight different ion beams covering LET range from 0.5 to above 2000 eV/nm. -values of 7OH-3CCA, one of hydroxylated products in radiolysis of the solutions, have been determined by fluorescence-HPLC technique in 3CCA concentration range from 0.1 to 26 mM. The formation yield of 7OH-3CCA increased with increasing concentration of 3CCA while it decreased with increasing LET value of ion beam. Compared with our previous reports on (OH) at a scavenging capacity of 10 s with absorption spectroscopy, it was found that (7OH-3CCA) is about (4.70.6)% of (OH), which is consistent for all of the ion beams used in the present study. However, 7OH-3CCA yields in high CCA concentration region, especially by using extremely high LET ions, were much higher than expected values based on the above conversion factor and (OH) value predicted in theoretical work.

Water radiolysis with heavy ions of energies up to 28 GeV, 2; Extension of primary yield measurements to very high LET values

Yamashita, Shinichi; Katsumura, Yosuke; Lin, M.; Muroya, Yusa*; Maeyama, Takuya*; Murakami, Takeshi*

Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 77(10-12), p.1224 - 1229, 2008/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2008.05.037

Measurements of primary -values (at 10 s after the initial ionizing event) of e, OH and HO were extended to the very high linear energy transfer (LET) region ( 700 eV per nm) near the Bragg peak. Heavy ions (He, C, Ne, Si, Ar and Fe) of energies up to 28 GeV were provided by the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC) of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) in Chiba, Japan. Energies of the ions were decreased down to about 10 MeV per u for He using an energy absorber made of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) plates in order to vary the LET values. Beam was visualized after passing through the energy absorber using agarose gel of aqueous solution containing methyl viologen and sodium formate in order to determine how long ions can penetrate into water. Based on the information of the penetration depth of ions in samples, much attention was paid to dose correction and LET evaluation. The obtained data were plotted as a function of ( /) also instead of LET in order to discuss effects of physical track structures on product yields, resulted in better universality.

Water radiolysis with heavy ions of wide range of energies; Investigation of initial track structure with deterministic simulations

Yamashita, Shinichi; Katsumura, Yosuke; Maeyama, Takuya*; Lin, M.; Muroya, Yusa*; Murakami, Takeshi*; Meesungnoen, J.*; Jay-Gerin, J.-P.*

no journal, , 

Water radiolysis with heavy ions, from helium to iron ions, of very high energies up to 28 GeV (namely several hundred MeV per nucleon) has been studied in this work. Simulations based on diffusion kinetic model were performed to examine correlation between initial track structures at the beginning of the chemical stage, 10-12 s, and primary yields as well as to estimate the validity of classical track structure model for highly energetic heavy ions.

Investigation on heavy-ion track structure in water using diffusion kinetic model simulation

Yamashita, Shinichi; Katsumura, Yosuke; Maeyama, Takuya*; Lin, M.; Muroya, Yusa*; Murakami, Takeshi*; Jay-Gerin, J.-P.*; Meesungnoen, J.*

no journal, , 

Although water is a main component of human cells and its interaction with ionizing radiations are of crucial importance, understanding of water radiolysis with heavy ions of energies comparable to those used in actual cancer treatments is not sufficient. Recently, such highly energetic heavy ions are available at the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC) of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), Chiba, Japan. We have carried out measurements of primary yields of main water decomposition products, hydrated electron (e), hydroxyl radical (OH) and hydrogen peroxide (HO) with heavy ions from He to Fe of energies up to 28 GeV (corresponding LET varies from 2 to 700 keV/m) provided from the HIMAC. Note that primary yields are defined as the yields at 100 ns after irradiation, which can be regarded as a time scale when diffusions and intra-track reactions of initial products are almost terminated. Then, such yields are important because they inherently involve information of initial track structure and dynamics of water decomposition products during track expansion. In the present study, not only such measurements but also discussions based on the measured data were conducted by simulations.

Yield of OH near the Bragg peak of heavy-ion beam from HIMAC, 1; Yield determination by using CCA as a scavenger

Yamashita, Shinichi; Maeyama, Takuya*; Baldacchino, G.*; Katsumura, Yosuke; Muroya, Yusa*; Taguchi, Mitsumasa; Kimura, Atsushi; Murakami, Takeshi*

no journal, , 

A novel sensitive method to determine OH yield in water radiolysis has been developed and has been applied for heavy-ion irradiations. In this work, this method was extended to measurement near the Bragg peak. It was found that OH yield has minimum value near the Bragg peak and is different even for the same ion irradiation of different acceleration energies.

Ion beam radiation chemistry relevant to radiation therapy

Katsumura, Yosuke; Yamashita, Shinichi; Lin, M.; Maeyama, Takuya*; Muroya, Yusa*; Baldacchino, G.*; Jay-Gerin, J.-P.*; Meesungnoen, J.*; Murakami, Takeshi*

no journal, , 

Water radiolysis with therapeutic ion beam; Contribution of fragmentations to OH yields estimated by PHITS

Funtowiez, D.*; Maeyama, Takuya*; Yamashita, Shinichi; Katsumura, Yosuke; Meesungnoen, J.*; Jay-Gerin, J.-P.*; Murakami, Takeshi*

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English

Water radiolysis with therapeutic high-energy heavy-ion beams; Yield of OH radical near the Bragg peak

Yamashita, Shinichi; Funtowiez, D.*; Maeyama, Takuya*; Midorikawa, Masamichi*; Oka, Toshitaka; Baldacchino, G.*; Taguchi, Mitsumasa; Kimura, Atsushi; Kudo, Hisaaki*; Katsumura, Yosuke; et al.

no journal, , 

Product yields of water radiolysis are inevitably important in understanding detailed mechanism of indirect action of ionizing radiations. We have conducted yield measurement of main products such as hydrated electron, hydroxyl radical (OH) and hydrogen peroxide. We have also developed a sensitive method to determine OH yield with a fluorescent probe. In the method, aqueous solution of coumarin-3-carboxylic acid (CCA) is irradiated and OH is scavenged by CCA, resulting in production of fluorescent product 7OH-CCA. Applying this method, OH yield near the Bragg peak has been measured in this study because the Bragg peak is overlapped cancer position in actual therapy. Beams of C 290 and 135 MeV/u and so on were taken for irradiation at the biological irradiation port at HIMAC facility of NIRS. It was found that OH yield show minimal value around the Bragg peak for every ion beam and it drastically jumps up several times at just downstream of the Bragg peak. It is already well known that contributions of fragmentation particles become non-negligible for high-energy heavy ions. Thus, further consideration including fragmentations is necessary to separate contributions of different fragmentation particles. Such consideration is being attempted by using simulations with HIBRAC and PHITS.