Behavior of Radiocesium in Sediments in Fukushima Coastal Waters: Verification of Desorption Potential through Pore Water

Concentrations of 137Cs in seawater, seabed sediment, and pore water collected from the area around Fukushima were investigated from 2015 to 2018, and the potential of coastal sediments to supply radiocesium to the bottom environment was evaluated. The 137Cs concentration in the pore water ranged fr...

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Published inEnvironmental science & technology Vol. 54; no. 21; pp. 13778 - 13785
Main Authors Otosaka, Shigeyoshi, Kambayashi, Shota, Fukuda, Miho, Tsuruta, Tadahiko, Misonou, Toshiharu, Suzuki, Takashi, Aono, Tatsuo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Chemical Society 03.11.2020
Subjects
Cesium 137
Cesium isotopes
Cesium radioisotopes
Cesium Radioisotopes - analysis
Chemical analysis
Coastal waters
Contaminants in Aquatic and Terrestrial Environments
Desorption
Diffusion rate
Fukushima Nuclear Accident
Japan
Ocean floor
Pore water
Radiation Monitoring
Seawater
Sediments
Water
Water analysis
Water Pollutants, Radioactive - analysis
Japan
Pore water
FDNPP accident
Conditional partition coefficien
Seabed sediment
Radiocesium
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Summary:Concentrations of 137Cs in seawater, seabed sediment, and pore water collected from the area around Fukushima were investigated from 2015 to 2018, and the potential of coastal sediments to supply radiocesium to the bottom environment was evaluated. The 137Cs concentration in the pore water ranged from 33 to 1934 mBq L–1 and was 10–40 times higher than that in the overlying water (seawater overlying within 30 cm on the seabed). At most stations, the 137Cs concentrations in the overlying water and the pore water were approximately proportional to those in the sediment. The conditional partition coefficient between pore water and sediment was [0.9–14] × 102 L kg–1, independent of the year of sampling. These results indicated that an equilibrium of 137Cs between pore water and sediment has been established in a relatively short period, and 137Cs in the pore water is gradually exported to seawater near the seabed. A simple box model estimation based on these results showed that 137Cs in the sediment decreased by about 6% per year by desorption/diffusion of 137Cs from the seabed.
ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/acs.est.0c05450