Development of HCl-free solid phase extraction combined with ICP-MS/MS for rapid assessment of difficult-to-measure radionuclides, 2; Highly sensitive monitoring of Sn in concrete rubble

Do, V. K.; Furuse, Takahiro; Ota, Yuki; Iwahashi, Hiroyuki; Hirosawa, Takashi; Watanabe, Masahisa; Sato, Soichi

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 331(12), p.5631 - 5640, 2022/12

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08612-7

Sn is one of the long-lived fission products that might have been released into the environment after the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011. The presence of radionuclides must be monitored for the proper treatment of wastes obtained from decommissioning accident-related nuclear facilities and the surrounding environment. In the work, we propose a reliable method for verifying the presence of Sn in construction materials by combining the HCl-free solid phase extraction on TEVA resin and a selective measurement by inductively coupled plasma tandem mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS). The method has been optimized and characterized step by step. More than 95% of chemical recovery was achieved for Sn from typical concrete matrixes. The interference caused by an isobar Te and possible polyatomic interferences from matrixes were effectively suppressed by the developed chemical separation and the tandem MS/MS configuration. The total decontamination factor for the Te interference was of the order of 10. The estimated method detection limit for Sn in concrete as measured at m/z = 160 was 12.1 pg g, which is equivalent to 6.1 mBq g.

Seven-year temporal variation of cesium-137 discharge inventory from the port of Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant; Continuous monthly estimation of cesium-137 discharge in the period from April 2011 to June 2018

Machida, Masahiko; Yamada, Susumu; Iwata, Ayako; Otosaka, Shigeyoshi; Kobayashi, Takuya; Watanabe, Masahisa; Funasaka, Hideyuki; Morita, Takami*

Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai Wabun Rombunshi, 18(4), p.226 - 236, 2019/12

https://doi.org/10.3327/taesj.J18.030

After direct discharges of highly-contaminated water from Unit 2 and 3 in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F) in April to May 2011, Kanda suggested that relatively small run-off of radionuclides from 1F port into Fukushima coastal region has subsequently continued by using his estimation scheme. However, the estimation period was limited until September 2012, and there has been no report on the issue since the work. Therefore, this paper focuses on discharge inventory from 1F port until June 2018. In the missing period, the central government and Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings have done continuous efforts to stop the discharge, and consequently sea water concentration inside 1F port has diminished gradually. We show monthly discharge inventory of Cs-137 until June 2018 by two schemes, i.e., Kanda's scheme partially improved by authors and more sophisticated one using Voronoi tessellation reflecting the increment of the number of monitoring points inside 1F port. The results show that the former always presents overestimated results compared to the latter but the ratio of former to latter is less than one order. Based on these results, we evaluate impact of discharge inventory from 1F port into the coastal area and radiation does via fish digestion.

Groundwater flow modeling focused on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant site

Saegusa, Hiromitsu; Onoe, Hironori; Kohashi, Akio; Watanabe, Masahisa

Proceedings of 23rd International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE-23) (DVD-ROM), 7 Pages, 2015/05

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant of Tokyo Electric Power Company is facing contaminated water issues. The amount of contaminated water is continuously increasing due to groundwater leakage into the underground part of reactor and turbine buildings. Therefore, it is important to understand the groundwater flow conditions at the site and to predict the impact of countermeasures taken for isolating groundwater from the source of the contamination, i.e. the reactor buildings. Installations, such as of land-side and sea-side impermeable walls have been planned as countermeasures. In this study, groundwater flow modeling has been performed to estimate the response of groundwater flow conditions to the countermeasures. From the modeling, groundwater conditions and changes in response to implementation of the countermeasures could be reasonably estimated. The results indicate that the countermeasures will decrease the volume of inflow into underground part of the buildings. This means that the countermeasures will be effective in reducing the discharge volume of contaminated groundwater to ocean.

Report for "Decontamination Pilot Projects for the environmental remediation of evacuation areas contaminated with radioactive materials discharged from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident; Decontamination Technology Demonstrations Projects" (Contract research)

Watanabe, Masahisa; Tagawa, Akihiro

JAEA-Review 2013-053, 84 Pages, 2014/03

JAEA-Review-2013-053.pdf:48.63MB

To discover technologies that can be utilized for decontamination work and verify their effects, economic feasibility, safety, and other factors, the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan launched the FY2011 Decontamination Technology Demonstrations Project to publicly solicit decontamination technologies that would be verified in demonstration tests and adopted 25 candidates. JAEA was commissioned by the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan to provide technical assistance related to these demonstrations. JAEA carried out a demonstration test and evaluation of 25 technologies (e.g., decontamination technology of soil classifiers, ultra-high pressure water jets and volume reduction of organic materials) to perform decontamination of the environment

Report for "FY 2011 Evaluation of Decontamination Technology Demonstrations Projects for the environmental remediation with radioactive materials discharged from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident" (Contract research)

Watanabe, Masahisa; Tagawa, Akihiro

JAEA-Review 2013-051, 244 Pages, 2014/03

JAEA-Review-2013-051.pdf:34.73MB

To discover technologies that can be utilized for decontamination work and verify their effects, economic feasibility, safety, and other factors, the Cabinet Office, Government of Japan launched the FY2011 Decontamination Technology Demonstrations Project to publicly solicit decontamination technologies that would be verified in demonstration tests and adopted 22 candidates. JAEA was commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment, Government of Japan to provide technical assistance related to these demonstrations. JAEA carried out technical advice of demonstration test and evaluation of 22 technologies (e.g., decontamination technology of Thermal decomposition, Bottom sediment of Pond and volume reduction of organic materials using biomass technologies) to perform decontamination of the environment.

Three decades of forward steps and prospect in Tokai reprocessing plant, 9; Improvement of accountability/safeguards analysis at Tokai reprocessing plant

Watanabe, Masahisa; Surugaya, Naoki; Kurosawa, Akira; Watahiki, Masaru

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English

Result of demonstration tests on decontamination technology, 7; Research of the radioactive cesium pollution in reservoir sediment

Umemiya, Noriko; Tagawa, Akihiro; Watanabe, Masahisa

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English

Result of demonstration tests on decontamination technology, 6; Evaluation of cesium elution from ash generated by the biomass power

Kajiyama, Yuichi; Tagawa, Akihiro; Watanabe, Masahisa

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English

Result of demonstration tests on decontamination technology, 8; Summary of decontamination techniques demonstration project 2012

Watanabe, Masahisa; Umemiya, Noriko; Tagawa, Akihiro

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English

Hydrodynamic simulation of radionuclides dispersion inside the harbor in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

Yamada, Susumu; Machida, Masahiko; Watanabe, Masahisa

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English