Radioactivity of fission product and heavy nuclides deposited on soil in Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident

Abstract

Based on periodically performed radioactivity measurements on soil samples in the site of Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Station, activity ratios to 137Cs of fission product and heavy nuclides were obtained for Sr, Nb, Mo, Tc, Ru, Ag, Te, I, Ba, La, Pu, Am, and Cm isotopes. By exponentially fitting or averaging, the activity ratios at the core shutdown were estimated. Using correlations of activity ratios of 134Cs to 137Cs, and 238Pu to the sum of 239Pu and 240Pu against fuel burnup, burnup of the fuel sourcing the deposited activity of the soil was estimated. The activity ratios to 137Cs of each nuclide on the deposited activity were divided by those calculated on the fuel at the shutdown to obtain the deposited activity fraction of each nuclide as a relative value to 137Cs, which also corresponds to the deposited fraction of each element as a relative value to Cs. The obtained deposited fractions relative to Cs are the orders of 10 -4 to 10 -2 for Sr, 10 -5 to 10 -3 for Nb, 10 -2 to 10 -1 for Mo, 1 to 10 for I, 10 -3 to 10 -2for Ba, 10 -2 for La, 10 -6 to 10 -3 for Pu, 10 -6 to 10 -4 for Am, and 10 -7 to 10 -5 for Cm. The deposited fractions for Tc, Ag, and Te were not estimated due to the lack of the calculated inventories in the fuel for the relevant measured radioactive nuclides. © 2012 Atomic Energy Society of Japan. All rights reserved.