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Radiostrontium monitoring of bivalves from the Pacific coast of eastern Japan

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A Correction to this article was published on 23 October 2021

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Abstract

In early April 2011, radiostrontium was accidentally released from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to the Pacific coast of eastern Japan. We developed a simple procedure to analyze radiostrontium levels in marine mussels (Septifer virgatus) and seawater using crown ether (Sr Resin; Eichrom). Then, we used our method to describe the spatial and temporal distribution of radiostrontium in mussels and seawater on the Pacific coast of eastern Japan from 2011 to 2013 and for 2015. Activity of 90Sr in mussels and seawater decreased with distance from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant and between 2011 and 2013 tended to be higher in areas south of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant than to the north of it. Activity in mussels and seawater also tended to decrease from 2011 to 2013 and by 2015 had reached levels experienced prior to the Fukushima accident. Our results suggest that radiostrontium discharged from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was dispersed by coastal currents in a southerly direction along the Pacific coast of eastern Japan from 2011 to 2013, following which its activity decreased to background levels by 2015.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Drs. Akinori Takeuchi and Mai Takagi, Ms. Yuko Kanda, Zhao Quin, Tomoko Hosoya, Tamiko Fujisaki, Etsuko Shimada, and Tomio Shimada for field sampling and assistance with sample processing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8506, Japan

    Zin’ichi Karube, Yoko Inuzuka, Atsushi Tanaka & Yasuyuki Shibata

  2. Tsukuba Branch, WDB Co. Ltd., 1-6-1 Takezono, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0032, Japan

    Katsuaki Kurishima

  3. Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, NARO, 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8604, Japan

    Nobuharu Kihou

  4. Present Address: Center for Water Environment Studies, Ibaraki University, 1375 Ohu, Itako, Ibaraki, 311-2402, Japan

    Zin’ichi Karube

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  1. Zin’ichi Karube
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Correspondence to Zin’ichi Karube.

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Karube, Z., Inuzuka, Y., Tanaka, A. et al. Radiostrontium monitoring of bivalves from the Pacific coast of eastern Japan. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 17095–17104 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6878-8

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