Input of 129I into the western Pacific Ocean resulting from the Fukushima nuclear event

Tumey, S. J.; Guilderson, T. P.; Brown, T. A.; Broek, T.; Buesseler, K. O.

doi:10.1007/s10967-012-2217-9

Title: Input of ¹²⁹I into the western Pacific Ocean resulting from the Fukushima nuclear event

Journal Article · Tue Apr 02 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-012-2217-9· OSTI ID:1237533

Tumey, S. J. ^[1]; Guilderson, T. P. ^[2]; Brown, T. A. ^[1]; Broek, T. ^[3]; Buesseler, K. O. ^[4]

Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
Woods Hole Research Center, Falmouth, MA (United States)

We present an initial characterization of the input of ¹²⁹I into the Pacific Ocean resulting from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident. This characterization is based primarily on ¹²⁹I measurements on samples collected from a research cruise conducted in waters off the eastern coast of Japan in June 2011. The resulting measurements were compared with samples intended to reflect pre-Fukushima background that were collected during a May 2011 transect of the Pacific by a commercial container vessel. In surface waters, we observed peak ¹²⁹I concentrations of ~300 μBq/m³ which represents an elevation of nearly three orders of magnitude compared to pre-Fukushima backgrounds. The ¹²⁹I results were coupled with ¹³⁷Cs measurements from the same cruise and derived an average ¹²⁹I/137Cs activity ratio of 0.442 × 10^-6 for the effluent from Fukushima. Finally, we present ¹²⁹I depth profiles from five stations from this cruise which form the basis for future studies of ocean transport and mixing process as well as estimations of the total budget of ¹²⁹I released into the Pacific.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344

OSTI ID:: 1237533

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL-543396

Journal Information:: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 296, Issue 2; ISSN 0236-5731

Publisher:: SpringerCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 24 works

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Syntheses of tannic acid-type organic composite adsorbents for simultaneous removal of various types of radionuclides in seawater Tachibana, Yu; Suzuki, Tatsuya; Nogami, Masanobu Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 318, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-018-6168-7	journal	September 2018
Advances on identification and animated simulations of radioactivity risk levels after Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident (with a data bank): A Critical Review Külahcı, Fatih; Bilici, Ahmet Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 321, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-019-06559-w	journal	May 2019
The role of mass spectrometry in radioactive contamination assessment after the Fukushima nuclear accident Bu, Wenting; Ni, Youyi; Steinhauser, Georg Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, Vol. 33, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1039/c7ja00401j	journal	January 2018
The 129-iodine content of subtropical Pacific waters: impact of Fukushima and other anthropogenic 129-iodine sources Guilderson, T. P.; Tumey, S. J.; Brown, T. A. Biogeosciences, Vol. 11, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-4839-2014	journal	January 2014
Iodine 129 levels from R/V Ka`imikai-O-Kanaloa KOK1108 from June 2011 (Fukushima Radionuclide Levels project) Guilderson, Thomas; Tumey, Scott J.; Buesseler, Kenneth O. Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) https://doi.org/10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.716480.1	dataset	January 2021
Fukushima-derived radionuclides in sediments of the Japanese Pacific Ocean coast and various Japanese water samples (seawater, tap water, and coolant water of Fukushima Daiichi reactor unit 5) Shozugawa, Katsumi; Riebe, Beate; Walther, Clemens Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 307, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-015-4386-9	journal	August 2015
Carbon, cesium and iodine isotopes in Japanese cedar leaves from Iwaki, Fukushima Xu, Sheng; Cook, Gordon T.; Cresswell, Alan J. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 310, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-016-4830-5	journal	April 2016

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Title: Input of 129I into the western Pacific Ocean resulting from the Fukushima nuclear event

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Title: Input of ¹²⁹I into the western Pacific Ocean resulting from the Fukushima nuclear event