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Behavior of radiocesium in decontaminated paddy fields in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan

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Abstract

The 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami led to dispersal of radionuclides into the surrounding area from the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Before agricultural activities can safely resume after this accident, it is necessary to evaluate the dynamics of radiocesium in irrigation water in the area. We measured the concentrations of total and dissolved radiocesium in irrigation water and analyzed radiocesium concentrations in rice and soil samples, the soil to brown rice transfer factor (TF) in two decontaminated paddy fields located within the zone where paddy rice culture was prohibited, and radiocesium/water balance in a paddy field in 2014. Our key findings were as follows: (1) about 85% of the radiocesium in the irrigation water did not drain away but accumulated in the paddy field; (2) in comparison with the amount of the radiocesium deposited in the fields, the amount of radiocesium that accumulated during irrigation was approximately 0.076%; (3) the outflow of total radiocesium from paddy field was 13.0% of the inflow to a paddy field (irrigation water and fallout); (4) the soil to brown rice TF was 0.0015–0.0068 in the decontaminated paddy fields where soil improvement was performed to increase the content of exchangeable potassium to 200 (mg K)/kg soil before the conventional application; and (5) the concentration of radiocesium in brown rice was about 2% of the standard limit in Japan (100 Bq/kg), and the impact on brown rice from radiocesium in the irrigation water was limited.

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Acknowledgements

This study presents part of the results from the project “Development of Decontamination Technologies for Radioactive Substances in Agricultural Land (task name: Elucidation of transfer dynamics of radiocesium in decontaminated paddy fields; task number, 31107)” commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. This study was supported partly by a grant-in-aid from the Kurita Water and Environment Foundation (15A012 and 16K004) and JSPS KAKENHI Project (16H01791). We gratefully acknowledge the help of many people during our research.

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  1. Moono Shin

    Present address: Faculty of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Fukushima University, 1 Kanayagawa, Fukushima, Fukushima, 960-1296, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tohoku Agricultural Research Center, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, 50 Harajuku-minami, Arai, Fukushima, Fukushima, 960-2156, Japan

    Moono Shin, Hisaya Matsunami & Takeshi Ota

  2. Institute for Rural Engineering, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, 2-1-6 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8609, Japan

    Tomijiro Kubota

  3. Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, 3-1-3 Kannondai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8604, Japan

    Yuzo Manpuku

  4. Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery Department, Fukushima Prefecture, 2-16 Sugitsuma-cho, Fukushima, Fukushima, 960-8670, Japan

    Yukio Suzuki

  5. Institute for Geo-Resources and Environment, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Central 7, 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8567, Japan

    Tetsuo Yasutaka

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  1. Moono Shin
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Correspondence to Tomijiro Kubota.

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Shin, M., Kubota, T., Manpuku, Y. et al. Behavior of radiocesium in decontaminated paddy fields in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Paddy Water Environ 17, 703–714 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10333-019-00694-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10333-019-00694-6

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