Soil dust and bioaerosols as potential sources for resuspended Cs occurring near the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant

Ota, Masakazu; Takahara, Shogo; Yoshimura, Kazuya; Nagakubo, Azusa; Hirouchi, Jun; Hayashi, Naho; Abe, Tomohisa; Funaki, Hironori; Nagai, Haruyasu

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, 264, p.107198_1 - 107198_15, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2023.107198

One of the current major radiation exposure pathways from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident-fallout is inhalation of the re-suspended Cs occurring in air. While wind-induced soil particle resuspension has been recognized as a primary mechanism of Cs resuspension, studies following the FDNPP accident suggested that fungal spores can be a significant source of the atmospheric Cs particularly in the rural areas such as difficult-to-return zone (DRZ). To elucidate the relative importance of the two resuspension phenomena, we propose a model simulating resuspension of Cs as soil particles and fungal spores, and applied it to DRZ. Our model's calculation showed that soil particle resuspension was responsible for the surface-air Cs observed during winter-spring, but could not account for the higher Cs concentrations observed in summer-autumn. The higher concentrations in the summer-autumn were in general reproduced by implementing fungal spore Cs emission, that replenished low soil particle Cs resuspension in that period. According to our model's concept, Cs accumulation in fungal spores and high spore emission rate characterized by the rural environment were likely responsible for the abundance of spore Cs in the air. It was inferred that the influence of the fungal spores on the atmospheric Cs would last longer since un-decontaminated forests still exist in DRZ.

Penetration factor and indoor deposition rate of elementary and particulate iodine in a Japanese house for assessing the effectiveness of sheltering for radiation exposures

Hirouchi, Jun; Takahara, Shogo; Komagamine, Hiroshi*; Kato, Nobuyuki*; Matsui, Yasuto*; Yoneda, Minoru*

Journal of Radiological Protection, 41(3), p.S139 - S149, 2021/09

https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6498/ac025b

Sheltering is one of the countermeasures for protection against radiation exposures in nuclear accidents. The effectiveness of sheltering is often expressed by the reduction factor, that is the ratio of the indoor to the outdoor cumulative radioactivity concentrations or doses. The indoor concentration is mainly controlled by the air exchange rate, penetration factor, and indoor deposition rate. The penetration factor and indoor deposition rate depend on the surface and opening materials. We investigated experimentally these parameters of I and particles. The experiment was performed in two apartment houses, three single-family houses, and chambers. The obtained penetration factor ranged 0.3 1 for particles of 0.3 1 m and 0.15 0.7 for I depending on the air exchange rate. The indoor deposition rate for a house room ranged 0.007 0.2 h for particles of 0.31 m and 0.21.5 h for I depending on floor materials.

Internal dose coefficients for various gastrointestinal absorption fractions (Contract research)

Hirouchi, Jun; Tokashiki, Yuji*; Takahara, Shogo; Manabe, Kentaro

JAEA-Research 2021-001, 284 Pages, 2021/03

JAEA-Research-2021-001.pdf:4.23MB

Doses to the public are calculated with internal dose coefficients based on the publications of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) in OSCAAR, which is a level 3 Probabilistic Risk Assessment code developed by Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). The gastrointestinal absorption fraction, , which is one of parameters of internal dose coefficient, is given the recommended value. However, although it has been reported that has uncertainty, the uncertainty analysis of has been performed on few radionuclides. In this report, to evaluate the influence of uncertainty of on the internal dose, we calculated the internal dose coefficient with various , and derive the relationship between the coefficient and . As a result, we indicate that the relationships are expressed by a linear function for radionuclides with a half-life of more than 0.5 days and are expressed by a cubic function for radionuclides with a half-life of less than 0.5 days.

Investigation of reduction factor of internal exposure for sheltering in Japan

Hirouchi, Jun; Takahara, Shogo; Komagamine, Hiroshi*; Munakata, Masahiro

Proceedings of Asian Symposium on Risk Assessment and Management 2018 (ASRAM 2018) (USB Flash Drive), 8 Pages, 2018/10

no abstracts in English

Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex, 2; Neutron scattering instruments

Nakajima, Kenji; Kawakita, Yukinobu; Ito, Shinichi*; Abe, Jun*; Aizawa, Kazuya; Aoki, Hiroyuki; Endo, Hitoshi*; Fujita, Masaki*; Funakoshi, Kenichi*; Gong, W.*; et al.

Quantum Beam Science (Internet), 1(3), p.9_1 - 9_59, 2017/12

https://doi.org/10.3390/qubs1030009

The neutron instruments suite, installed at the spallation neutron source of the Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility (MLF) at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), is reviewed. MLF has 23 neutron beam ports and 21 instruments are in operation for user programs or are under commissioning. A unique and challenging instrumental suite in MLF has been realized via combination of a high-performance neutron source, optimized for neutron scattering, and unique instruments using cutting-edge technologies. All instruments are/will serve in world-leading investigations in a broad range of fields, from fundamental physics to industrial applications. In this review, overviews, characteristic features, and typical applications of the individual instruments are mentioned.

Identification of penetration path and deposition distribution of radionuclides in houses by experiments and numerical model

Hirouchi, Jun; Takahara, Shogo; Iijima, Masashi; Watanabe, Masatoshi; Munakata, Masahiro

Radiation Physics and Chemistry, 140, p.127 - 131, 2017/11

BB2016-0282.pdf:0.39MB

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2017.02.005

Assessment of doses from external exposure in contaminated areas resulting from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

Takahara, Shogo; Kimura, Masanori; Kinase, Sakae; Ishikawa, Jun; Suyama, Kenya; Hosoyamada, Ryuji; Homma, Toshimitsu

Progress in Nuclear Science and Technology (Internet), 3, p.25 - 29, 2012/10

https://doi.org/10.15669/pnst.3.25

Dose assessment is one of the important issues to make decisions in contaminated areas resulting from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. The doses to inhabitants of contaminated areas should be assessed prospectively and retrospectively taking into account the impact from various exposure pathways. The external exposure from deposited radioactive materials of short-lived and long-lived is one of the most important pathways. In the present study, the radionuclide compositions have been evaluated by source term analysis taking into account 54 radionuclides. This analysis consists in evaluating the inventory and the fraction of the radionuclides that were released into the atmosphere. On the assumption that dose rate may be decreased due to the radioactive decay as well as weathering effects, we have assessed the dose for future and past at the contaminated areas. The assessed values are almost consistent with the measured ones during the first month.

Risk-informed evaluation of off-site response planning for nuclear emergencies

Homma, Toshimitsu; Kimura, Masanori; Takahara, Shogo; Ishikawa, Jun

no journal, , 

It is recognized that good preparedness in advance of an emergency can substantially improve the emergency response to a nuclear or radiological accident. In particular, it is very important to provide technical guidance for the development of protective action strategies based upon a comprehensive analysis which takes into account the full range of postulated events. Probabilistic accident consequence assessment models can be very useful for providing a quantitative basis for discussing the effective emergency preparedness for appropriate protective action strategies such as sheltering, evacuation, and stable iodine prophylaxis. This paper presents the methodology and results of the risk-informed evaluation of off-site emergency planning using the level 3 PSA code, called OSCAAR developed at JAEA. Calculations of the off-site consequence have been made of postulated core damage accidents with source terms derived from a generic level 2 PSA of the reference plant.

Examination of the decreasing effect on internal exposure by sheltering, 1; Literature search on variation factors

Watanabe, Masatoshi; Takahara, Shogo; Hirouchi, Jun; Munakata, Masahiro

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English

Evaluation of reduction effects for external exposures in vehicles evacuation after nuclear accident

Takahara, Shogo; Watanabe, Masatoshi*; Hirouchi, Jun; Iijima, Masashi*; Munakata, Masahiro

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English