Watershed-geochemical model to simulate dissolved and particulate Cs discharge from a forested catchment

Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Hayashi, Seiji*; Yoshimura, Kazuya; Kurikami, Hiroshi; Malins, A.; Funaki, Hironori; Tsuji, Hideki*; Kobayashi, Takamaru*; Kitamura, Akihiro; Iijima, Kazuki

Water Resources Research, 58(8), p.e2021WR031181_1 - e2021WR031181_16, 2022/08

https://doi.org/10.1029/2021WR031181

Remobilisation of radiocaesium from bottom sediments to water column in reservoirs in Fukushima, Japan

Funaki, Hironori; Tsuji, Hideki*; Nakanishi, Takahiro; Yoshimura, Kazuya; Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Hayashi, Seiji*

Science of the Total Environment, 812, p.152534_1 - 152534_10, 2022/03

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152534

Reservoir sediments generally act as a sink for radionuclides derived from nuclear accidents, but under anaerobic conditions, several radionuclides remobilise in bioavailable form from sediment to water columns, which may contribute to a long-term contamination in aquatic products. This study systematically investigated the Cs activities between sediment and pore water, which is a direct evidence of the remobilisation of bioavailable Cs from sediments, in two highly contaminated reservoirs affected by the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Our results strongly indicate a competitive ion exchange process between Cs and NH via a highly selective interaction with the frayed edges sites of phyllosilicate minerals to be the major reason for the variability of the Kd values between sediment and pore water, even in the Fukushima case.

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.

Factors affecting Cs concentrations in river water under base-flow conditions near the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant

Nakanishi, Takahiro; Funaki, Hironori; Sakuma, Kazuyuki

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 328(3), p.1243 - 1251, 2021/06

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07735-7

To confirm factors affecting Cs concentration in river water after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident, this study conducted monthly observations of nine rivers near the FDNPP from April 2017 to March 2018 under base-flow conditions. The annual mean dissolved and particulate Cs concentrations correlated well with the mean Cs deposition in the catchment. The normalized Cs concentrations in both phases by dividing by the mean Cs deposition in the catchment showed significant negative correlations with the Cs deposition ratio for forests. The inflow from the downstream plain areas increased the Cs concentrations near the FDNPP.

Calculations for ambient dose equivalent rates in nine forests in eastern Japan from Cs and Cs radioactivity measurements

Malins, A.; Imamura, Naohiro*; Niizato, Tadafumi; Takahashi, Junko*; Kim, M.; Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Shinomiya, Yoshiki*; Miura, Satoru*; Machida, Masahiko

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 226, p.106456_1 - 106456_12, 2021/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2020.106456

Status of study of long-term assessment of transport of radioactive contaminants in the environment of Fukushima (FY2018) (Translated document)

Nagao, Fumiya; Niizato, Tadafumi; Sasaki, Yoshito; Ito, Satomi; Watanabe, Takayoshi; Dohi, Terumi; Nakanishi, Takahiro; Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Hagiwara, Hiroki; Funaki, Hironori; et al.

JAEA-Research 2020-007, 249 Pages, 2020/10

JAEA-Research-2020-007.pdf:15.83MB

The accident of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, Inc. occurred due to the Great East Japan Earthquake, Sanriku offshore earthquake, of 9.0 magnitude and the accompanying tsunami. As a result, large amount of radioactive materials was released into the environment. Under these circumstances, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been conducting "Long-term Assessment of Transport of Radioactive Contaminants in the Environment of Fukushima" concerning radioactive materials released in environment, especially migration behavior of radioactive cesium since November 2012. This report is a summary of the research results that have been obtained in environmental dynamics research conducted by JAEA in Fukushima Prefecture.

Numerical study of transport pathways of Cs from forests to freshwater fish living in mountain streams in Fukushima, Japan

Kurikami, Hiroshi; Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Malins, A.; Sasaki, Yoshito; Niizato, Tadafumi

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 208-209, p.106005_1 - 106005_11, 2019/11

AA2018-0485.pdf:1.87MB

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2019.106005

To assess the uptake of Cs-137 (Cs) by freshwater fish, we developed a compartment model for the migration of Cs on the catchment scale from forests to river water. We modelled a generic forest catchment with Fukushima-like parameters to ascertain the importance of export pathways of Cs from forests to river water for the uptake of Cs by freshwater fish. The results suggest that the decreasing trend of Cs in river water and freshwater fish was due to combination of the decreasing trend in the forest leaves/needles and litter compartments, and the increasing trend in soil. The Cs concentrations within these forest compartments plateau at around ten years after the fallout due to Cs circulation in forests reaching an equilibrium state.

Research and development behind a computation system for 3D distributions of air dose rates in the environment; Estimating environmental radiation doses using PHITS together with remote sensing data

Kim, M.; Malins, A.; Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Kitamura, Akihiro; Machida, Masahiko; Hasegawa, Yukihiro*; Yanagi, Hideaki*

Isotope News, (765), p.30 - 33, 2019/10

https://www.jrias.or.jp/books/cat3/2019/765.html

Here we outline a system for generating three dimensional models of urban and rural areas in Fukushima Prefecture. The Cs and Cs radioactivity distribution can be set flexibly across the different components of the model. The models incorporate realistic representations of local buildings, individual conifer and broadleaf trees, and the topography of the land surface. The system is demonstrated by modelling a suburban area 4 km from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant that has yet to be decontaminated. Air dose rates calculated in PHITS were correlated with measurements taken across the site in a car-borne survey.

Trend of Cs concentration in river water in the medium term and future following the Fukushima Nuclear accident

Nakanishi, Takahiro; Sakuma, Kazuyuki

Chemosphere, 215, p.272 - 279, 2019/01

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2018.10.017

We conducted a three-year-long observation (April 2015 - March 2018) of the Cs concentration in two rivers affected by the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident. The result revealed a declining trend for the dissolved and particulate Cs concentration in river water in the medium term after the FDNPP accident. The dissolved and particulate Cs concentrations showed declining trends with time, even though large seasonal variations related to water temperature were also observed in the dissolved Cs concentrations. The environmental half-life for the dissolved Cs concentration was longer than previous reported values in the early phase, suggesting that the declining trend for the dissolved Cs concentration is gradually decreasing with time. The temperature dependency of the dissolved Cs concentration became weaker year by year, and the dissolved Cs concentration will likely remain at the same level for several decades.

Development of the evaluation tool for air dose rate in forest using a Monte Carlo radiation transport code (PHITS)

Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Niizato, Tadafumi; Kim, M.; Malins, A.; Machida, Masahiko; Yoshimura, Kazuya; Kurikami, Hiroshi; Kitamura, Akihiro; Hosomi, Masaaki*

Kankyo Hoshano Josen Gakkai-Shi, 6(3), p.145 - 152, 2018/09

We simulated air dose rates using PHITS to consider how the partitioning of radiocesium between the forest canopy, litter layer and soil layer affected air dose rates by perturbing the radiocesium source distribution between different simulations. Transferring radiocesium from the canopy to the litter layer did not affect air dose rates at 1 m above the ground when setting up the simulation with a radiocesium distribution measured in October 2015. This is because there was almost no radiocesium in the canopy at that time. However air dose rates tended to be high near the canopy, and above the canopy up to 200 m altitude, when the simulations were initiated using source distribution data applicable for August-September 2011, due to the larger amount of radiocesium in the canopy at that time. Transferring the radiocesium from the canopy to the litter layer in this case was associated with a three times increase in the air dose rate at 1 m, as the average distance between radiocesium in the forest and 1 m above the ground was shortened. In both cases radiocesium transfer from the litter layer to the underlying soil was associated with a one third to 50% reduction in air dose rates at 1 m, due to the self-shielding effect of soil.