Environ Monit Assess (2014) 186:2949–2956 DOI 10.1007/s10661-013-3592-6
Radiation exposure to Marine biota around the Fukushima Daiichi NPP Dong-Kwon Keum & Byeong-Ho Kim & Kwang-Muk Lim & Yong-Ho Choi
Received: 19 August 2013 / Accepted: 12 December 2013 / Published online: 30 December 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Abstract The dose rates for six marine organisms, pelagic fish, benthic fish, mollusks, crustaceans, macroalgae, and polychaete worms, representative in marine ecosystems, have been predicted by the equilibrium model with the measured seawater activity concentrations at three locations around the Fukushima Daiich nuclear power plant after the accident on March 11, 2011. Model prediction showed that total dose rates for the biota in the costal sea reached 4.8E4 μGy/d for pelagic fish, 3.6E6 μGy/d for crustaceans, 3.8E6 μGy/d for benthic fish, 5.2E6 μGy/ d for macroalgae, 6.6E6 μGy/d for mollusks, and 8.0E6 μGy/d for polychaete worms. The predicted total dose rates remained above the UNSCEAR’s (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effect of Atomic Radiation) benchmark level (1.0E4 μGy/d for an individual aquatic organism), for only the initial short period, which seems to be insufficiently long to bring about any detrimental effect on the marine biota at the population level. Furthermore, the total dose rates for benthic fish and crustaceans approximated using the measured activity concentration of the biota and bottom sediment was well below the benchmark level. From these results, it may be concluded that the impact of the ionizing radiation on the marine biota around the Fukushima NPP as a consequence of the accident would be insignificant. Keywords Fukushima accident . Marine biota . Dose rate . Equilibrium CR model
Introduction Following the Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident on March 11, 2011, a significant amount of radioactivity, about 12– 41 PBq (Bailly du Bois et al. 2011), was released into the Pacific Ocean exposing the marine biota to ionizing radiation from the radionuclides in the seawater and sediment. An assessment of the dose rate for the marine biota is needed to investigate whether the marine ecosystem has kept its integrity from the effect of the contamination. Since the accident, a number of papers have dealt with the radiation exposure to the marine biota as a consequence of the Fukushima accident (Ganier-Laplace et al. 2011; Kryshev et al. 2012), but further studies are still important to obtain more information on marine biota exposure to radiation and to better understand the radiological effect on marine ecosystems. The present paper estimates the temporal radiation dose rate of six marine organisms using an equilibrium model with the measured seawater activity concentrations at three locations around the Fukushima Daiichi NPP after the accident. The estimated dose rates are compared with the benchmark values for environmental protection form ionizing radiation and the results from other works.
Material and method Target marine organisms
D.
Radiation exposure to Marine biota around the Fukushima Daiichi NPP Dong-Kwon Keum & Byeong-Ho Kim & Kwang-Muk Lim & Yong-Ho Choi
Received: 19 August 2013 / Accepted: 12 December 2013 / Published online: 30 December 2013 # Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013
Abstract The dose rates for six marine organisms, pelagic fish, benthic fish, mollusks, crustaceans, macroalgae, and polychaete worms, representative in marine ecosystems, have been predicted by the equilibrium model with the measured seawater activity concentrations at three locations around the Fukushima Daiich nuclear power plant after the accident on March 11, 2011. Model prediction showed that total dose rates for the biota in the costal sea reached 4.8E4 μGy/d for pelagic fish, 3.6E6 μGy/d for crustaceans, 3.8E6 μGy/d for benthic fish, 5.2E6 μGy/ d for macroalgae, 6.6E6 μGy/d for mollusks, and 8.0E6 μGy/d for polychaete worms. The predicted total dose rates remained above the UNSCEAR’s (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effect of Atomic Radiation) benchmark level (1.0E4 μGy/d for an individual aquatic organism), for only the initial short period, which seems to be insufficiently long to bring about any detrimental effect on the marine biota at the population level. Furthermore, the total dose rates for benthic fish and crustaceans approximated using the measured activity concentration of the biota and bottom sediment was well below the benchmark level. From these results, it may be concluded that the impact of the ionizing radiation on the marine biota around the Fukushima NPP as a consequence of the accident would be insignificant. Keywords Fukushima accident . Marine biota . Dose rate . Equilibrium CR model
Introduction Following the Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident on March 11, 2011, a significant amount of radioactivity, about 12– 41 PBq (Bailly du Bois et al. 2011), was released into the Pacific Ocean exposing the marine biota to ionizing radiation from the radionuclides in the seawater and sediment. An assessment of the dose rate for the marine biota is needed to investigate whether the marine ecosystem has kept its integrity from the effect of the contamination. Since the accident, a number of papers have dealt with the radiation exposure to the marine biota as a consequence of the Fukushima accident (Ganier-Laplace et al. 2011; Kryshev et al. 2012), but further studies are still important to obtain more information on marine biota exposure to radiation and to better understand the radiological effect on marine ecosystems. The present paper estimates the temporal radiation dose rate of six marine organisms using an equilibrium model with the measured seawater activity concentrations at three locations around the Fukushima Daiichi NPP after the accident. The estimated dose rates are compared with the benchmark values for environmental protection form ionizing radiation and the results from other works.
Material and method Target marine organisms
D.
