Records of the riverine discharge of I in riverbank sediment after the Fukushima accident

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

Environmental Pollution, 355, p.124213_1 - 124213_7, 2024/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124213

This study investigated the transport behavior of I by riverbank surveys conducted from 2013 to 2015 in a watershed where the I/Cs activity ratio is low in the mountainous area and high in the plain as of 2011. Until 2015, the I/Cs activity ratio of the levee crown in the studied watershed was similar to that of the surrounding area in 2011. However, the I/Cs ratios of the surface riverbank sediments were all low, indicating that radionuclides transported from the mountainous area were deposited on the riverbank in the plain. The vertical distribution of the I/Cs ratio in the riverbank sediments indicated that some I and Cs deposited during the accident remained in the lower layers, but most were eroded immediately after the accident. Based on the I/Cs ratios of sediments deposited on the riverbank, which remained constant until 2015 after the accident, the amount of I discharged to the ocean was determined from the previously evaluated Cs discharge. It was calculated that 1.810 Bq and 1.210 Bq of I were discharged with sediment from the studied watershed and the contaminated river watersheds (Abukuma River and Fukushima coastal rivers, including the study river), respectively. The results of this study indicate that the continuous I discharge from the river contribute little to their amount in the seafloor sediments along the Fukushima coast.

Impact of fluvial discharge on Cs in the ocean following the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident

Tsumune, Daisuke*; Tsubono, Takaki*; Misumi, Kazuhiro*; Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Onda, Yuichi*

Pure and Applied Chemistry, 16 Pages, 2024/00

https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2023-0902

Twelve years after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (F1NPS) accident, Cs activity concentrations have not yet decreased to pre-accident levels because of direct release from the site and fluvial discharges of Cs deposited on land. It is necessary to consider dispersion processes in the coastal area to understand the impact of multiple river discharges and direct release. To achieve this goal, we carried out oceanic dispersion simulations that considered direct release and fluvial discharges and compared the results with the annual averages of observed data. We assumed that particulate Cs discharged from rivers to the ocean quickly resuspended and re-leached after coagulation and precipitation and that all of the Cs were dispersed. The reproducibility of results was improved by considering fluvial discharges of particulate Cs at all sites between 2013 and 2016, except near the F1NPS. In other words, particulate Cs discharged from rivers was found to influence the results of ocean surface activity concentrations within a relatively short period of time. The impact of direct release was dominant for the observed Cs activity concentrations adjacent to the F1NPS, which was used to estimate direct releases.

Simulation study on H behavior in the Fukushima coastal region; Comparison of influences of discharges from the Fukushima Daiichi and rivers

Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Yamada, Susumu; Machida, Masahiko; Kurikami, Hiroshi; Misono, Toshiharu; Nakanishi, Takahiro; Iijima, Kazuki

Marine Pollution Bulletin, 192, p.115054_1 - 115054_10, 2023/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115054

Temporal variability of Cs concentrations in coastal sediments off Fukushima

Suzuki, Shotaro*; Amano, Yosuke*; Enomoto, Masahiro*; Matsumoto, Akira*; Morioka, Yoshiaki*; Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Tsuruta, Tadahiko; Kaeriyama, Hideki*; Miura, Hikaru*; Tsumune, Daisuke*; et al.

Science of the Total Environment, 831, p.154670_1 - 154670_15, 2022/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154670

A Modeling approach to estimate H discharge from rivers; Comparison of discharge from the Fukushima Dai-ichi and inventory in seawater in the Fukushima coastal region

Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Machida, Masahiko; Kurikami, Hiroshi; Iwata, Ayako; Yamada, Susumu; Iijima, Kazuki

Science of the Total Environment, 806(Part 3), p.151344_1 - 151344_8, 2022/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.151344

Dynamics of Cs in water and phyto- and zooplankton in a reservoir affected by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident

Tsuji, Hideki*; Nakagawa, Megumi*; Iijima, Kazuki; Funaki, Hironori; Yoshimura, Kazuya; Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Hayashi, Seiji*

Global Environmental Research (Internet), 24(2), p.115 - 127, 2021/06

Lake water, phytoplankton and zooplankton were sampled by a total of 12 quarterly surveys from August 2014 to May 2017 at a dam lake in the Fukushima nuclear disaster area, and variations of dissolved form of Cs and planktonic Cs were observed. Seasonal variations in dissolved Cs concentration with high in summer and low in winter were observed in the upstream, midstream and downstream areas of the lake, but no seasonal or site specific differences in planktonic Cs concentrations and dominant species were found. The amount of planktonic form of Cs in the water was less than 1.4% of the total Cs in the lake water, therefore the effect of plankton on the dynamics of Cs in the lake was minimal.

Leaching characteristics of Cs for forest floor affected by the Fukushima nuclear accident; A Litterbag experiment

Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Yoshimura, Kazuya; Nakanishi, Takahiro

Chemosphere, 264, p.128480_1 - 128480_9, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128480

We investigated characteristic of dissolved Cs leaching from litters collected at a coniforest needle and a deciduous broadleaf forests using litterbags at upstream area of Ohta River in Fukushima. Each leaf type of litters was collected into 36 litterbags, respectively, and installed each forest floor in June and December, 2017. Triplicate samples were collected at each forest floor and readily transported to the laboratory in August, December, 2017 and March, May, August, December, 2018. Samples were put in buckets and soaked in purified water. We took leaching water samples from the buckets at 20 min, 140 min, 1 day after soaking litter samples in the water. These samples were analysed about Cs activity. The main results were that the deciduous broadleaf litter showed much higher leaching ratio of dissolved Cs (0.81-6.6%) than that of the coniferous needle litter (0.13-2.0%). A multi-regression analysis of Cs leaching ratios were conducted against antecedent mean precipitation and temperature, and accumulated temperature during the litterbag experiments. The model can reproduce observed Cs leaching ratios (R = 0.61-0.99).

Reservoir sediments as a long-term source of dissolved radiocaesium in water system; A Mass balance case study of an artificial reservoir in Fukushima, Japan

Funaki, Hironori; Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Nakanishi, Takahiro; Yoshimura, Kazuya; Katengeza, E. W.*

Science of the Total Environment, 743, p.140668_1 - 140668_9, 2020/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140668

Simulation study of the effects of buildings, trees and paved surfaces on ambient dose equivalent rates outdoors at three suburban sites near Fukushima Dai-ichi

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

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 210, p.105803_1 - 105803_10, 2019/12

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2018.09.001

To improve the accuracy of simulations for air dose rates over fallout contaminated areas, the distribution of the radionuclides within the environment should be modelled realistically, e.g. considering differences in radioactivity levels between agricultural land, urban surfaces, and forest compartments. Moreover simulations should model the shielding of rays by buildings, trees and land topography. 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, based on nine common Japanese designs, individual conifer and broadleaf trees, and the topography of the land surface. Models are generated from Digital Elevation Model (DEM) and Digital Surface Model (DSM) datasets, and refined by users assisted with ortho-photographs of target sites. Completed models are exported from the system in a format suitable for the Particle and Heavy Ion Transport code System (PHITS) for the calculation of air dose rates and other radiological quantities. 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.

A Modeling approach to estimate the Cs discharge in rivers from immediately after the Fukushima accident until 2017

Sakuma, Kazuyuki; Nakanishi, Takahiro; Yoshimura, Kazuya; Kurikami, Hiroshi; Namba, Kenji*; Zheleznyak, M.*

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 208-209, p.106041_1 - 106041_12, 2019/11

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2019.106041

We developed a simple model to evaluate and predict Cs discharge from catchment using tank model and L-Q equation. Using this model, Cs discharge and discharge ratio from Abukuma River and 13 other rivers in Fukushima coastal region were estimated from immediately after Fukushima accident to 2017. Cesium-137 discharge ratio to the deposition amount in catchment through Abukuma River and 13 other rivers in Fukushima coastal region during about initial six months were estimated to be 18 TBq (3.1%) and 11 TBq (0.8%), respectively. These values were 1-2 orders of magnitude larger than the previous study observed after June 2011, indicating that initial Cs discharge from catchment through rivers was a significant. However it was founded that an impact on the ocean derived from initial Cs discharge through river can be limited because Cs discharge from Abukuma River and 13 other rivers in Fukushima coastal region (29 TBq) was two orders of magnitude smaller than the direct release from FDNPP into the ocean (3.5 PBq) and from atmospheric deposition into the ocean (7.6 PBq).