Measurements of Fission Products from the Fukushima Daiichi Incident in San Francisco Bay Area Air Filters, Automobile Filters, Rainwater, and Food

A variety of environmental media were analyzed for fallout radionuclides resulting from the Fukushima nuclear accident by the Low Background Facility (LBF) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, CA. Monitoring activities in air and rainwater began soon after the onset of th...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Smith, A R, Thomas, K J, Norman, E B, Hurley, D L, Lo, B T, Chan, Y D, Guillaumon, P V, Harvey, B G
Format Paper
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 27.12.2013
Subjects
Air filters
Air monitoring
Fallout
Fission products
Food
Nuclear accidents
Radioisotopes
Rain water
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:A variety of environmental media were analyzed for fallout radionuclides resulting from the Fukushima nuclear accident by the Low Background Facility (LBF) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, CA. Monitoring activities in air and rainwater began soon after the onset of the March 11, 2011 tsunami and are reported here through the end of 2012. Observed fallout isotopes include \(^{131}\)I, \(^{132}\)I,\(^{132}\)Te,\(^{134}\)Cs, \(^{136}\)Cs, and \(^{137}\)Cs. Isotopes were measured on environmental air filters, automobile filters, and in rainwater. An additional analysis of rainwater in search of \(^{90}\)Sr is also presented. Last, a series of food measurements conducted in September of 2013 are included due to extended media concerns of \(^{134, 137}\)Cs in fish. Similar measurements of fallout from the Chernobyl disaster at LBNL, previously unpublished publicly, are also presented here as a comparison with the Fukushima incident. All measurements presented also include natural radionuclides found in the environment to provide a basis for comparison.
ISSN:2331-8422