Tritium and radiocarbon in the western North Pacific waters: post-Fukushima situation

Kaizer, Jakub; Aoyama, Michio; Kumamoto, Yuichiro; Molnár, Mihály; Palcsu, László; Povinec, Pavel P.

doi:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2018.01.015

Cited by 36 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Environmental presence of tritium is often quantified in "tritium units" (TU), which is defined as 1 tritium atom per 10 18 hydrogen atoms ( 3 H/ 1 H = 10 -18 ) or an 3 H activity concentration of 0.118 Bq•L -1 . Reports on tritium in the environment after the Fukushima accident are relatively scarce (Kaizer et al, 2018;Kakiuchi et al, 2012;Kanda et al, 2015;Kashiwaya et al, 2017;Kumamoto et al, 2015;Maruoka et al, 2017;Matsumoto et al, 2013;Povinec et al, 2017;Tanaka et al, 2014). Precipitation samples collected in Tsukuba, Japan, in 2010 (before the accident) exhibited a tritium level of 2 TU (Matsumoto et al, 2013).…”

Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radionuclides in surface waters around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi NPP one month after the accident: Evidence of significant tritium release into the environment

Querfeld

Pasi

Shozugawa

et al. 2019

Science of The Total Environment

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Following the Fukushima nuclear accident (2011), radionuclides mostly of volatile elements (e.g., 131 I, 134,137 Cs, 132 Te) have been investigated frequently for their presence in the atmosphere, pedosphere, biosphere, and the Pacific Ocean. Smaller releases of radionuclides with intermediate volatility, (e.g., 90 Sr), have been reported for soil. However, few reports have been published which targeted the contamination of surface (fresh) waters in Japan soon after the accident. In the present study, 10 surface water samples (collected on April 10, 2011) have been screened for their radionuclide content ( 3 H, 90 Sr, 129 I, 134 Cs, and 137 Cs), revealing partly unusually high contamination levels. Especially high tritium levels (184 ± 2 Bq•L -1 ; the highest levels ever reported in scientific literature after Fukushima) were found in a puddle water sample from close to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The ratios between paddy/puddle water from one location only a few meters apart vary around 1% for 134 Cs, 12% for 129 I ( 131 I), and around 40% for both 3 H and 90 Sr. This illustrates the adsorption of radiocesium on natural minerals and radioiodine on organic substances (in the rice paddy), whereas the concentration differences of 3 H and 90 Sr between the two waters are mainly dilution driven.

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Section: Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Radionuclides in surface waters around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi NPP one month after the accident: Evidence of significant tritium release into the environment

Querfeld

Pasi

Shozugawa

et al. 2019

Science of The Total Environment

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“…It has been of great interest how Fukushima accident has changed the distribution of these tracers in waters of the open Pacific Ocean, important for climate change studies. The measured 137 Cs activity concentrations in surface waters collected 30-600 km offshore the Fukushima NPP in June 2011 [ 4 , 102 ] were up to three orders of magnitude higher than the global fallout background, although the cruise track did not go closer than 30 km from the coast. The geographical distribution of 137 Cs levels in the water column indicates that an atmospheric deposition of 137 Cs occurred within the 600 km zone offshore Fukushima.…”

Section: Examples Of Large-scale Projects Carried Out With New Radioamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sample sizes have been constraining many new environmental investigations, which could be illustrated e.g. for surface seawater sampling and analysis: (i) 0.5 L sample size limit has already been achieved for 3 H analysis using in-growth mass spectrometry of 3 He [ 2 , 102 , 103 ] and in AMS analysis of 14 C and 129 I [ 2 , 92 , 93 , 98 , 102 – 105 ]; (ii) About 5 L seawater samples could be analysed for 137 Cs in deep-underground gamma-spectrometry laboratories such as Gran Sasso (Italy) and Modane (France); (iii) About 10 L samples could be analysed for 137 Cs in shallow and medium-depth underground gamma-spectrometry laboratories, operating at about 100 m water equivalent, w.e. (for comparison of laboratories operating in different rock environment we normalize them to the water depth) [ 60 , 106 – 108 ]; (iv) About 10 L samples could be analysed for Pu isotopes by AMS [ 60 , 96 , 109 , 110 ], and similarly also by ICPMS and TIMS [ 81 , 88 , 97 , 110 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

New ultra-sensitive radioanalytical technologies for new science

Povinec

2018

J Radioanal Nucl Chem

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Recent developments in radiometric and mass spectrometry technologies have been associated in the radiometric sector mainly with underground operations of large volume Ge detectors, while the mass-spectrometry sector, represented mainly by accelerator mass spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry has become the most sensitive technique for ultra-low-level analyses of long-lived radionuclides. These new developments have had great impact on investigations of rare nuclear processes and applications of radionuclides in environmental, life and space sciences. New scientific investigations have been carried out therefore which have not been possible before either because of lack of sensitivity or required large sample size.

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“…An estimated 0.1–0.5 PBq of 3 H flowed into the north Pacific Ocean from the accident 6 , 11 . Tritium was detected in the north-west Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hirono town, Fukushima Prefecture 1 month after the accident 12 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landside tritium leakage over through years from Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant and relationship between countermeasures and contaminated water

Shozugawa

Hori

Johnson

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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There has been tritium groundwater leakage to the land side of Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plants since 2013. Groundwater was continuously collected from the end of 2013 to 2019, with an average tritium concentration of approximately 20 Bq/L. Based on tritium data published by Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) (17,000 points), the postulated source of the leakage was (1) leaks from a contaminated water tank that occurred from 2013 to 2014, or (2) a leak of tritium that had spread widely over an impermeable layer under the site. Based on our results, sea side and land side tritium leakage monitoring systems should be strengthened.

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Tritium and radiocarbon in the western North Pacific waters: post-Fukushima situation

Cited by 36 publications

References 60 publications

Radionuclides in surface waters around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi NPP one month after the accident: Evidence of significant tritium release into the environment

Radionuclides in surface waters around the damaged Fukushima Daiichi NPP one month after the accident: Evidence of significant tritium release into the environment

New ultra-sensitive radioanalytical technologies for new science

Landside tritium leakage over through years from Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant and relationship between countermeasures and contaminated water

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