14C levels in the vicinity of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant prior to the 2011 accident

Xu, Sheng; Cresswell, A.J.; Dunbar, Elaine; Freeman, Stewart P.H.T.; Hastie, Helen; Hou, Xiaolin; Jacobsson, Piotr; Naysmith, Philip; Sanderson, David; Tripney, Brian G; Yamaguchi, Katsuhiko

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2016.03.013

Cited by 20 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The elevated 14 C activities in the 2009 and 2010 rings from Futaba, Ogaki and Takase confirm the discharge of 14 C during routine reactor operations of the FDNPP, as observed in the Okuma tree rings9. On the other hand, the 14 C levels in the post-accident 2012–2015 rings are indistinguishable from the general atmospheric values and this strongly suggests a fast response to the cessation in 14 C discharges due to the shutdown of the FDNPP after the 2011 accident.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

“…The 14 C concentrations in the 2010 ring from Namie and the 2009–2010 rings from Shimotsushima and Yamakiya are consistent with the SIL values, again indicating the exponential decline in the global atmospheric 14 CO 2 activity. On the other hand, like the enhancement in 14 C prior to the accident, observed in Okuma tree rings9, the elevated 14 C in the 2009 rings from Futaba, Takase, Ogaki and Namie, and in the 2010 rings from Futaba, Takase and Ogaki, confirm the existence of 14 C discharges during routine reactor operations, which is consistent with observations at other nuclear sites using similar technologies3. It should be pointed out that the 14 C activities in 2009 and 2010 in the Futaba sample are higher than those observed in the Okuma sample by 8% and 6%, respectively.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…However, our later study on a 50-year-old Japanese cedar from Okuma, ~1 km southwest of the FDNPP confirmed significant 14 C discharges during normal operations of the FDNPP between 1976 and 2010, but no visible 14 C excess in 2011, at least in the southwest direction9. Recently, Povinec et al 10.…”

mentioning

confidence: 65%

“…Figure 2 shows the temporal variations in 14 C specific activity in tree rings from the six sites in this study, together with global atmospheric 14 CO 2 values from SIL, and 14 C measurements from local tree rings in Iwaki and Okuma89. The excess 14 C activity in this study can be calculated by subtracting the ambient global atmospheric 14 C values at SIL, with any resulting negative values most likely caused by a local fossil fuel effect on the 14 C activity (Table 1).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This justification is based on the good agreement between the long-term global atmospheric data and regional atmospheric data in Japan, including CO 2 , tree ring and rice grain samples measured throughout Japan. Detailed discussion of this was made in our previous study9.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Radiocarbon Releases from the 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Accident

Cresswell

Dunbar

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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Radiocarbon activities were measured in annual tree rings for the years 2009 to 2015 from Japanese cedar trees (Cryptomeria japonica) collected at six sites ranging from 2.5–38 km northwest and north of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. The 14C specific activity varied from 280.4 Bq kg−1 C in 2010 to 226.0 Bq kg−1 C in 2015. The elevated 14C activities in the 2009 and 2010 rings confirmed 14C discharges during routine reactor operations, whereas those activities that were indistinguishable from background in 2012–2015 coincided with the permanent shutdown of the reactors after the accident in 2011. High-resolution 14C analysis of the 2011 ring indicated 14C releases during the Fukushima accident. The resulted 14C activity decreased with increasing distance from the plant. The maximum 14C activity released during the period of the accident was measured 42.4 Bq kg−1 C above the natural ambient 14C background. Our findings indicate that, unlike other Fukushima-derived radionuclides, the 14C released during the accident is indistinguishable from ambient background beyond the local environment (~30 km from the plant). Furthermore, the resulting dose to the local population from the excess 14C activities is negligible compared to the dose from natural/nuclear weapons sources.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 85%

mentioning

confidence: 65%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Radiocarbon Releases from the 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Accident

Cresswell

Dunbar

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

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Local variance of atmospheric 14C concentrations around Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant from 2010 to 2012

Chen

Freeman

et al. 2017

J Radioanal Nucl Chem

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Radiocarbon ( 14 C) has been measured in single tree ring samples collected from the southwest of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant. Our data indicate south-westwards dispersion of radiocarbon and the highest 14 C activity observed so far in the local environment during the 2011 accident. The abnormally high 14 C activity in the late wood of 2011 ring may imply an unknown source of radiocarbon nearby after the accident. The influence of 14 C shrank from 30 km during normal reactor operation to 14 km for the accident in the northwest of FDNPP, but remains unclear in the southwest.

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Radiocarbon and radiocesium in litter fall at Kawamata, ~ 45 km NW from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant (Japan)

Paterne

Evrard

Hatté

et al. 2018

J Radioanal Nucl Chem

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Radiocarbon and radiocesium were measured on litter fractions (LF) collected on November 19 th , 2011 at 40 km NW of the FDNPP. The 137 Cs concentration is much higher in the lower fraction LFb at 226,650 ± 170 Bq kg-1 than in the upper fraction LFa at 7290 ± 40 Bq kg-1. From leaf-air 14 C comparison, no excess 14 C due to the FDNPP accident is detected in LFa deposited in 2010-2011. A significant 14 C difference of 1.4% exists between pine needles and deciduous leaves in LFb, which may be due either to post-depositional processes or to a turnover time of 0.5-1yr of stored carbon for deciduous leaves growth.

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14C levels in the vicinity of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant prior to the 2011 accident

Cited by 20 publications

References 20 publications

Radiocarbon Releases from the 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Accident

Radiocarbon Releases from the 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Accident

Local variance of atmospheric 14C concentrations around Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant from 2010 to 2012

Radiocarbon and radiocesium in litter fall at Kawamata, ~ 45 km NW from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant (Japan)

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