Transport of radiocaesium from forests to ocean: What governs the concentration of radiocaesium?

Abstract:

JAEA has carried out “the project on the Long-term Assessment of Transport of Radioactive Contaminant in the Environment of Fukushima (F-TRACE project)” since the end of 2012. Radiocaesium has been widely distributed by the fallout from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident, mainly to the coastal area of Fukushima Prefecture. In this project, the transport behavior of radiocaesium through seven water systems located in coastal areas of Fukushima was investigated to establish predictive modeling tools for distribution of radiocaesium and to estimate future effective dose of the residents. This paper provides understanding of transport behavior of radiocaesium extracted by comparison among focused rivers and quantitative evaluation of mass flow in the water system based on the results of field observations. Especially, behavior and factors defining the concentrations of particulate and dissolved radiocaesium in the water systems will be discussed.