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Examining the Fate of Fukushima Contaminants
http://www.whoi.edu/news-release/FukushimaSediment[font face=Serif][font size=5]Examining the Fate of Fukushima Contaminants[/font]
[font size=4]A Fraction of Buried, Ocean Sediment Uncovered by Typhoons, Carried Offshore by Currents[/font]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2015
(508) 289-3340
Media Relations Office
media@whoi.edu
[font size=3]An international research team reports results of a three-year study of sediment samples collected offshore from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in a new paper published August 18, 2015, in the American Chemical Society's journal, Environmental Science and Technology.
…
"Cesium is one of the dominant radionuclides that was released in unprecedented amounts with contaminated water from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant following the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami," says Buesseler. "A little over 99 percent of it moved with the water offshore, but a very small fraction—less than one percent—ended up on the sea floor as buried sediment."
…
"The total transport is small, though it is readily detectable. One percent or less of the contaminated sediment that's moving offshore every year means things aren't going to change very fast," Buesseler says. "What's buried is going to stay buried for decades to come. And that's what may be contributing to elevated levels of cesium in fish—particularly bottom-dwelling fish off Japan."
While there were hundreds of different radionuclides released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant during the disaster, after the initial decay of contaminants with half lives (the time it takes for one half of a given amount of radionuclide to decay) less than days to weeks, much of the attention has remained focused on cesium-137 and-134— two of the more abundant contaminants. Cesium-134 has a half-life of a little over two years, and so any found in the ocean could come only from the reactors at Fukushima. Cesium-137 has a half-life of roughly 30 years and is also known to have entered the Pacific as a result of aboveground nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s and ‘60s, providing a benchmark againstwhich to measure any additional releases from the reactors.
…[/font][/font]
[font size=4]A Fraction of Buried, Ocean Sediment Uncovered by Typhoons, Carried Offshore by Currents[/font]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2015
(508) 289-3340
Media Relations Office
media@whoi.edu
[font size=3]An international research team reports results of a three-year study of sediment samples collected offshore from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in a new paper published August 18, 2015, in the American Chemical Society's journal, Environmental Science and Technology.
…
"Cesium is one of the dominant radionuclides that was released in unprecedented amounts with contaminated water from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant following the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami," says Buesseler. "A little over 99 percent of it moved with the water offshore, but a very small fraction—less than one percent—ended up on the sea floor as buried sediment."
…
"The total transport is small, though it is readily detectable. One percent or less of the contaminated sediment that's moving offshore every year means things aren't going to change very fast," Buesseler says. "What's buried is going to stay buried for decades to come. And that's what may be contributing to elevated levels of cesium in fish—particularly bottom-dwelling fish off Japan."
While there were hundreds of different radionuclides released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant during the disaster, after the initial decay of contaminants with half lives (the time it takes for one half of a given amount of radionuclide to decay) less than days to weeks, much of the attention has remained focused on cesium-137 and-134— two of the more abundant contaminants. Cesium-134 has a half-life of a little over two years, and so any found in the ocean could come only from the reactors at Fukushima. Cesium-137 has a half-life of roughly 30 years and is also known to have entered the Pacific as a result of aboveground nuclear weapons tests in the 1950s and ‘60s, providing a benchmark againstwhich to measure any additional releases from the reactors.
…[/font][/font]