Behavior of radioactive cesium concentration for 13 years after FDNPP accident at Koriyama campus of Nihon University, Fukushima, Japan

Radiat Prot Dosimetry. 2024 Nov 13;200(16-18):1835-1839. doi: 10.1093/rpd/ncae082.

Abstract

The concentration of the radioactive cesium (134Cs and 137Cs) in soils and in atmospheric fallouts has been measured at the Koriyama campus, Nihon University, after the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident for 13 y, from October 2011 till September 2023 and now ongoing. The concentration of them decreased very rapidly due to decontamination activities and weathering effects, with an environmental half-life of 1.21 and 2.82 y in soils, with those of 1.58 and 2.08 y in atmospheric fallouts for 134Cs and 137Cs, respectively. The behavior of the decrease was not simple, due to particles raised from the surface soil in wooded areas that had not been thoroughly decontaminated or that had been accumulated due to the re-release of radioactive cesium by trees after decontaminated activity.

MeSH terms

  • Cesium Radioisotopes* / analysis
  • Decontamination / methods
  • Fukushima Nuclear Accident*
  • Half-Life
  • Humans
  • Japan
  • Nuclear Power Plants
  • Radiation Monitoring* / methods
  • Radioactive Fallout / analysis
  • Soil Pollutants, Radioactive* / analysis
  • Universities

Substances

  • Cesium Radioisotopes
  • Soil Pollutants, Radioactive
  • Cesium-137
  • Cesium-134
  • Radioactive Fallout

Grants and funding