References

Biogeosciences

1726-4189

Copernicus Publications

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/bg-10-3839-2013

Iodine-129 concentration in seawater near Fukushima before and after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

Suzuki

¹ Otosaka

¹ Kuwabara

² Kawamura

¹ Kobayashi

Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Ibaraki, Japan

Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Aomori, Japan

14 06 2013

10 6 3839 3847

2013

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

This article is available from https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/10/3839/2013/bg-10-3839-2013.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/10/3839/2013/bg-10-3839-2013.pdf

Anthropogenic radionuclides were released into the environment in large quantities by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1FNPP) accident. To evaluate accident-derived 129I, the 129I concentrations in seawater before and after the accident were compared. Before the accident (2008–2009), the 129I concentrations in the western margin of the North Pacific between 32° N and 44° N showed a latitudinal gradient that was expressed as a linear function of latitude. The highest and average 129I concentrations after the accident were 73 times and approximately 8 times, respectively, higher than those before the accident in this study area. Considering the distribution of 129I in surface seawater, the accident-derived 129I in the southern and northern stations of the 1FNPP was predominantly supplied by seawater advection and atmospheric deposition (including microbial volatilization), respectively. As of October 2011, depth profiles of 129I revealed that 129I originating from the 1FNPP existed mainly in the upper 100 m depth. From the depth profiles, the cumulative inventories of accident-derived 129I were estimated to be (1.6–9.6) × 1012 atoms m−2 in this study area. On the basis of the 129I data in the seawater near Fukushima, the effective dose of 129I from seafood ingestion was much smaller than the annual dose limit.

References 1

Alfimov, V., Aldahan, A., Possnert, G., and Winsor, P.: Anthropogenic iodine-129 in seawater along a transect from the Norwegian coastal current to the North Pole, Mar. Pollut. Bull., 49, 1097–1104, 2004.

Baverstock, K., Egloff, B., Pinchera, A., Ruchera, C., Ruchti, C., and Williams, D.: Thyroid cancer after Chernobyl, Science, 359, 21–22, 1992.

Buesseler, K. O., Jayne, S. R., Fisher, N. S., Rypina, I. I., Baumann, H., Baumann, Z., Breier, C. F., Douglass, E. M., George, J., Macdonald, A. M., Miyamoto, H., Nishikawa, J., Pike, S. M., and Yoshida, S.: Fukushima-derived radionuclides in the ocean and biota off Japan, P. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 109, 5984–5988, 2012.

Campos, M. L. A. M.: New approach to evaluating dissolved iodine speciation in natural waters using cathodic stripping voltammetry and a storage study for preserving iodine species, Mar. Chem., 57, 107-117, 1997.

Honda, M. C., Aono, T., Aoyama, M., Hamajima, Y., Kawakami, H., Kitamura, M., Masumoto, Y., Miyazawa, Y., Takigawa, M., and Saino, T.: Dispersion of artifical cesium-134 and -137 in the western North Pacific one month after the Fukushima accident, Geochem. J., 44, e1–e9, 2012.

Hou, X. L., Dahlgaard, H., and Nielsen, S. P.: Chemical speciation analysis of 129I in seawater and preliminary investigation to use it as a tracer for geochemical cycle study of stable iodine, Mar. Chem., 74, 145–155, 2001.

Hou, X. L., Povinec, P. P., Zhang, L., Shi, K., Biddulph, D., Chang, C. C. Fan, Y., Golser, R., Hou, Y., Ješkovsk\'{y}, M., Jull, A. J. T., Liu, Qi, Luo, M.,Steier, P., and Zhou, W.: Iodine-129 in seawater offshore Fukushima: Distribution, inorganic speciation, source, and budget, Environ. Sci. Technol., 47, 3091–3098, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/es304460k">https://doi.org/10.1021/es304460k</a>, 2013.

Ibaraki Prefectual Fisheries Experimental Station: <a href="http://www.pref.ibaraki.jp/bukyoku/nourin/suishi/gyomusen/noaa/old-noaa.htm">http://www.pref.ibaraki.jp/bukyoku/nourin/suishi/gyomusen/noaa/old-noaa.htm</a>, last access: 17 October 2012.

IAEA: Sediment distribution coefficients and concentration factors for biota in the marine environment, Vienna, 95, 2004.

ICRP: Age-dependent doses to the members of the public from intake of radionuclides – Part 5 compilation of ingestion and inhalation coefficients, ICRP Publication 72, 26, 1995.

Kawamura, H., Kobayashi, T., Furuno, A., In, T., Ishikawa, Y., Nakayama, T., Shima, S., and Awaji, T.: Preliminary numerical experiments on oceanic dispersion of 131I and 137Cs discharged into the ocean because of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster, J. Nucl. Sci. Technol., 48, 1349–1356, 2011.

Keogh, S. M., Aldahan, A., Possnert, G., Finegan, P., Vintro, L. L., and Mitchell, P. I.: Trends in the spatial and temporal distribution of 129I and 99Tc in coastal waters surrounding Ireland using Fucus vesiculosus as a bio-indicator, J. Environ. Radioact., 95, 23–38, 2007.

MHLW: The national health and nutrition survey in Japan, 2010, 195, 2012.

Michel, R., Daraoui, A., Gorny, M., Jakob, D., Sachse, R., Tosch, L., Nies, H., Goroncy, I., Herrmann, J., Synal, H. A., Stocker, M., and Alfimov, V.: Iodine-129 and iodine-127 in European seawaters and in precipitation from Northern Germany, Sci. Total Environ., 419, 151–169, 2012.

Miyake, Y., Matsuzaki, H., Fujiwara, T., Saito, T., Yamagata, T., Honda, M., and Muramatsu, Y.: Isotopic ratio of radioactive iodine (129I/131I) released from Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident, Geochem. J., 46, 327–333, 2012.

Momoshima, N., Sugihara, S., Ichikawa, R., and Yokoyama, H.: Atmospheric radionuclides transported to Fukuoka, Japan remote from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power complex following the nuclear accident, J. Environ. Radioact., 111, 28–32, 2012.

Moran, J. E., Oktay, S., Santschi, P. H., and Schink, D. R.: Atomospheric dispersal of 129iodine from nuclear fuel reprocessing facilities, Environ. Sci. Technol., 33, 2536–2542, 1999.

Muramatsu, Y., Yoshida, S., Fehn, U., Amachi, S., and Ohmomo, Y.: Studies with natural and anthropogenic iodine isotopes: iodine distribution and cycling in the global environment, J. Environ. Radioact., 74, 221–232, 2004.

Povinec, P. P., Lee, S. H., Kwong, L. L. W., Oregioni, B., Jull, A. J. T., Kieser, W. E., Morgenstern, U., and Top, Z.: Tritium, radiocarbon, 90Sr and 129I in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B, 268, 1214–1218, 2010.

Raisbeck, G. M. and Yiou, F.: 129I in the oceans: origins and applications, Sci. Total Environ., 237/238, 31–41, 1999.

Schink, D. R., Santschi, P. H., Corapcioglu, O., Sharma, P., and Fehn, U.: 129I in Gulf of Mexico waters, Earth. Planet. Sci. Lett., 135, 131–138, 1995.

Snyder, G., Aldahan, A., and Possnert, G.: Global distribution and long-term fate of anthropogenic 129I in marine and surface water reservoirs, Geochem. Geophy. Geosy., 11, Q04010, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009GC002910">https://doi.org/10.1029/2009GC002910</a>, 2010.

Suzuki, T., Kitamura, T., Kabuto, S., Togawa, O., and Amano, H.: High sensitivity measurement of iodine-129/iodine-127 ratio by accelerator mass spectrometry, J. Nucl. Sci. Technol., 43, 1431–1435, 2006.

Suzuki, T., Kabuto, S., Amano, H., and Togawa, O.: Measurement of iodine-129 in seawater samples collected from the Japan Sea area using accelerator mass spectrometry: Contribution of nuclear fuel reprocessing plants, Quat. Geochronol., 3, 268–275, 2008.

Suzuki, T., Minakawa, M., Amano, H., and Togawa, O.: The vertical profiles of iodine-129 in the Pacific Ocean and the Japan Sea before the routine operation of new nuclear fuel reprocessing plant, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B, 268, 1229–1231, 2010.

Terada, H., Katata, G., Chino, M., and Nagai, H.: Atmospheric discharge and dispersion of radionuclides during the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. Part II: verification of the source term and analysis of regional-scale atmospheric dispersion, J. Environ. Radioact., 112, 141–154, 2012.

Toyama, C., Muramatsu, Y., Uchida, Y., Igarashi, Y., Aoyama, M., and Matsuzaki, H.: Variations of 129I in the atmospheric fallout of Tokyo, Japan: 1963–2003, J. Environ. Radioact., 113, 116–122, 2012.

Tsumune, D., Tsubono, T., Aoyama, M., and Hirose, K.: Distribution of oceanic 137Cs from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant simulated numerically by a regional ocean model, J. Environ. Radioact., 111, 100–108, 2012.