A trial of in situ and static measurements of levels of radioactive cesium 137 on shallow rugged reefs lying close to the coastline of Fukushima

Fumie Suzuki; Hideo Ohashi; Hiromi Shibata; Ken-Ichi Nogami; Hisayuki Arakawa; Nobuhiro Shiotani

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.06.007

A trial of in situ and static measurements of levels of radioactive cesium 137 on shallow rugged reefs lying close to the coastline of Fukushima

Mar Pollut Bull. 2019 Aug:145:649-655. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.06.007. Epub 2019 Jul 9.

Authors

Fumie Suzuki¹, Hideo Ohashi², Hiromi Shibata³, Ken-Ichi Nogami⁴, Hisayuki Arakawa⁵, Nobuhiro Shiotani⁶

Affiliations

¹ EcoStudies Association, Toranomon 2-2-5, Minato, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan; Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Minato, Tokyo 108-8477, Japan. Electronic address: suzuki@ecostudies.jp.
² EcoStudies Association, Toranomon 2-2-5, Minato, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan; Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Minato, Tokyo 108-8477, Japan. Electronic address: ohashi@ecostudies.jp.
³ EcoStudies Association, Toranomon 2-2-5, Minato, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan; The Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University, Ibaraki, Osaka 567-0047, Japan. Electronic address: shibata@ecostudies.jp.
⁴ EcoStudies Association, Toranomon 2-2-5, Minato, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan. Electronic address: nogami@ecostudies.jp.
⁵ Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Minato, Tokyo 108-8477, Japan. Electronic address: arakawa@kaiyodai.ac.jp.
⁶ EcoStudies Association, Toranomon 2-2-5, Minato, Tokyo 105-0001, Japan. Electronic address: shiotani@ecostudies.jp.

PMID: 31590834
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.06.007

Abstract

With the use of an in situ and static method for gamma-ray measurements, levels of radioactive cesium 137 on shallow rugged reefs which lie between 37.3° N and 37.4° N, from the coastline of Fukushima to 141.06° E, at a depth of around 10 m were surveyed for the first time from May 2016 to December 2017. To confirm the contact between the detector and a surface of rock, we used a fact that potassium containing minerals are abundant and uniformly distributed in the area, and thus the strength of the photoelectric peak of natural radioactive potassium 40 is nearly constant over the area. We have found that the levels of radioactive cesium 137 varied from point to point within a range from 1 × 10⁴ Bq/m² to 6 × 10⁴ Bq/m².

Keywords: (137)Cs; (40)K; Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant; In situ and static technique; Level; Reefs.

MeSH terms

Cesium Radioisotopes / analysis*
Environmental Monitoring / instrumentation
Environmental Monitoring / methods
Fukushima Nuclear Accident
Japan
Potassium Radioisotopes / analysis
Radiation Monitoring / instrumentation
Radiation Monitoring / methods
Water Pollutants, Radioactive / analysis*

Substances

Cesium Radioisotopes
Potassium Radioisotopes
Potassium-40
Water Pollutants, Radioactive
Cesium-137