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Analysis of Radionuclide Releases from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident Part II

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Abstract

The present part of the publication (Part II) deals with long range dispersion of radionuclides emitted into the atmosphere during the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident that occurred after the March 11, 2011 tsunami. The first part (Part I) is dedicated to the accident features relying on radionuclide detections performed by monitoring stations of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization network. In this study, the emissions of the three fission products Cs-137, I-131 and Xe-133 are investigated. Regarding Xe-133, the total release is estimated to be of the order of 6 × 1018 Bq emitted during the explosions of units 1, 2 and 3. The total source term estimated gives a fraction of core inventory of about 8 × 1018 Bq at the time of reactors shutdown. This result suggests that at least 80 % of the core inventory has been released into the atmosphere and indicates a broad meltdown of reactor cores. Total atmospheric releases of Cs-137 and I-131 aerosols are estimated to be 1016 and 1017 Bq, respectively. By neglecting gas/particulate conversion phenomena, the total release of I-131 (gas + aerosol) could be estimated to be 4 × 1017 Bq. Atmospheric transport simulations suggest that the main air emissions have occurred during the events of March 14, 2011 (UTC) and that no major release occurred after March 23. The radioactivity emitted into the atmosphere could represent 10 % of the Chernobyl accident releases for I-131 and Cs-137.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation for fruitful discussions about the data collected by radionuclide stations of the International Monitoring Network during this event. A special thank you should be expressed to Harry Dupont of the Alten Company for his expertise and for the implementation of dispersion and mesoscale meteorological models.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CEA, DAM, DIF, 91297, Arpajon, France

    Pascal Achim, Marguerite Monfort, Gilbert Le Petit, Philippe Gross, Guilhem Douysset, Thomas Taffary, Xavier Blanchard & Christophe Moulin

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  1. Pascal Achim
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  2. Marguerite Monfort
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  3. Gilbert Le Petit
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  4. Philippe Gross
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  5. Guilhem Douysset
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  6. Thomas Taffary
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  7. Xavier Blanchard
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  8. Christophe Moulin
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Correspondence to Pascal Achim.

Appendix

Appendix

Figure 17 shows the IMS stations (International Monitoring System) closest to the Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP. These stations are JPP38 - Takasaki; Japan (~210 km) and RUP58 - Ussuriysk; Russia Fed. (~1,100 km). The Fukushima Dai-ichi site and the city of Tokyo are also indicated on the map. Figures 18 and 19 show the IMS networks of radionuclide (aerosols) and noble gas stations in their September 2011 operational states.

Fig. 17
figure 17

Location of IMS stations (triangles) situated close to the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant (star)

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Fig. 18
figure 18

Particulate stations of the International Monitoring System (state of the network in March 2011). White circles operational stations. Dark squares non operational stations

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Fig. 19
figure 19

Noble gas stations of the International Monitoring System (state of the network in March 2011). Circles SAUNA systems. Triangles SPALAX systems. Inverted triangles ARIX systems. Dark squares non operational stations

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Achim, P., Monfort, M., Le Petit, G. et al. Analysis of Radionuclide Releases from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident Part II. Pure Appl. Geophys. 171, 645–667 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-012-0578-1

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