Isotopic compositions of transuranic nuclides released by the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident: with emphasis on Cm isotopes

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry volume 300, pages1045–1052(2014)Cite this article

Abstract

Isotopic composition of transuranic nuclides, with emphasis on Cm isotopes, were measured for environmental samples such as dust samples (black substances) from the roadsides and litter samples heavily contaminated by the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident. Low levels of 238Pu, 239,240Pu, 241Am, 242Cm and 243,244Cm were determined by α-spectrometry after radiochemical separation. These results, including radioactive Cs, provided an isotopic data set. When the activity ratios among these transuranic nuclides were compared with those of core inventories (Units 1–3) in the FDNPP estimated by the JAEA group, fairly good agreement was found, indicating that traces of transuranic nuclides, probably in the forms of fine particles, were released into the environment without their large fractionations. The obtained data may lead to more accurate information about the on-site situation (e.g., burn-up, conditions of fuel during the release phase, etc.), which would be difficult to receive otherwise, and on the dispersion and deposition processes of transuranic nuclides and the behavior of these nuclides in the environment.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their gratitude to Mr. K. Oyama, City Councilor in Minamisoma City, for his valuable help with the sampling. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research No. 24110008 (Yamamoto 2012–2016 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, MEXT, Japan).

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Affiliations

  1. Low Level Radioactivity Laboratory, Kanazawa University, Nomi, Ishikawa, 923-1224, Japan

    M. Yamamoto & S. Ochiai

  2. Graduate School of Science, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, 739-8526, Japan

    A. Sakaguchi

  3. Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University, Kumatori-cho, Osaka, 590-0494, Japan

    T. Imanaka

Authors
  1. M. Yamamoto
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  2. A. Sakaguchi
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  3. S. Ochiai
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  4. T. Imanaka
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Correspondence to M. Yamamoto.

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Yamamoto, M., Sakaguchi, A., Ochiai, S. et al. Isotopic compositions of transuranic nuclides released by the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident: with emphasis on Cm isotopes. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 300, 1045–1052 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3003-7

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Keywords

  • Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP
  • Transuranic elements
  • Cm isotopes
  • Road dust sample