Deposition of Fukushima nuclear power plant accident-derived radiocesium in the soils of Jeju Island, Korea, and evidence for long- and short-lived radionuclides in rainwater.

Autor: Kang TW; Yeongsan River Environment Research Center, National Institute of Environmental Research, Gwangju, 61011, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kangtw@korea.kr., Han YU; Yeongsan River Environment Research Center, National Institute of Environmental Research, Gwangju, 61011, Republic of Korea., Na EH; Yeongsan River Environment Research Center, National Institute of Environmental Research, Gwangju, 61011, Republic of Korea., Koo BJ; Department of Biological Sciences, California Baptist University, Riverside, CA, 92504-3297, USA., Park WP; Major of Plant Resources and Environment, Jeju National University, Jeju, 63243, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: oneticket@jejunu.ac.kr.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Chemosphere [Chemosphere] 2021 Feb; Vol. 264 (Pt 1), pp. 128457. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Sep 30.
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128457
Abstrakt: In this study, we investigated the concentrations of Fukushima nuclear power plant accident (FNPPA)-derived radiocesium ( 134 Cs, 137 Cs) deposited in the topsoil of Jeju Island, Korea. We also evaluated the soil inventories of radionuclides and compared the concentrations deposited by rainwater and fallout. We present the first evidence of FNPPA-derived radionuclides directly entering the environment of Jeju Island. In the case of FNPPA-derived 134 Cs in soil, only a trace amount was identified in the surface layer (1 cm depth), whereas 137 Cs derived from past atmospheric deposition of nuclear testing were detected along with those derived from the nuclear power plant accident. The total measured radiocesium ( 134 Cs +  137 Cs) indicates that although the value obtained from soils was slightly lower, both values were within the same order of magnitude. Of the FNPPA-derived radiocesium deposited in the soil, the impact from April 2011 was the largest at most sampling sites indicating that the radioactive plume directly covered Jeju Island. Furthermore, a variety of long- and short-lived gamma-emitting radionuclides were detected in the rainwater samples collected on April 7, 2011. Among them, short-lived radionuclides such as 140 La, 110m Ag, 95 Nb, 125 Sb, 113 Sn, 129 Te, 129m Te, 132 Te, 132 I, and 136 Cs, were observed. The findings of this study provide evidence for the direct effects of FNPPA-derived radionuclides in Jeju Island. This is the first location in Korea and the first in the entire East Asian region, excluding Japan that is confirmed to have been directly affected FNPP accident.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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