Cesium-137 stored on and discharged from banks of an agricultural canal in Iitate, Fukushima

• Published in: Journal of environmental radioactivity Vol. 241; p. 106775
• Main Authors: Tajima, Satoshi, Yoshida, Shuichiro, Fukui, Taku, Nihei, Naoto, Kobayashi, Natsuko I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.01.2022
• Subjects: Cesium Radioisotopes - analysis; Cesium-137; Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant; Fukushima Nuclear Accident; Japan; Litter; Radiation Monitoring; Radiocesium; Sequential extraction; Soil Pollutants, Radioactive - analysis; Water Pollutants, Radioactive - analysis; Japan; Sequential extraction; Cesium-137; Litter; Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant; Radiocesium
• ISSN: 0265-931X; 1879-1700
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2021.106775

This study aimed to investigate the dynamics of 137Cs around banks along an agricultural canal for paddy fields in Iitate, Fukushima, Japan. Five plots (2.4–12.6 m2) on the banks were monitored intermittently during six time periods from May 2018 to November 2019. We directly collected runoff water samples discharged from the banks followed by partitioning it into particulate and dissolved fractions and determining 137Cs in them. To investigate the source of 137Cs in the runoff water, we sequentially extracted 137Cs in various chemical forms from litter samples collected on the banks. The results showed that the discharge rates of the dissolved 137Cs per unit area from the plots were lower than those observed at the downstream of the agricultural canal, whereas more than 50% of the 137Cs discharged from the plots was in the dissolved fraction. Moreover, the results indicate that 137Cs stored in the standing plants and the litter was the primary source of the dissolved 137Cs discharged into the agricultural canal. The concentrations of the water-soluble 137Cs in the litter per plot area may have been retained by the sufficiently higher concentrations of 137Cs in litter in other chemical forms and those in the standing plants, which are the source of the litter. •Dissolved 137Cs accounted for more than 50% of the total 137Cs discharged.•Sufficient 137Cs is stored in plants and litter in various chemical forms.•Cesium-137 stored in plants and litter can supply the discharged dissolved 137Cs.