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PUBLICATIONS

Radio-microanalytical particle measurements method and application to Fukushima aerosols collected in Japan

Published

Author(s)

Cynthia J. Zeissler, Lawrence Forsley, Richard M. Lindstrom, Sean Newsome, Adrean Kirk, P.A. Mosier-Boss

Abstract

A nondestructive analytical method based on autoradiography and gamma spectrometry was developed to perform activity distribution analysis for particulate samples. This was applied to aerosols collected in Fukushima Japan, 40 km north of the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant for a 6 week period beginning shortly after the March 2011 tsunami. For an activity distribution of 990 "hot particles" from a small filter area, the hottest particle was nearly one Bq 137+134Cs but most of the activity in the filter was produced by particles having less than 50 mBq each. 134Cs/137Cs activity ratios corrected to March 20, 2011 ranged from 0.7 (σ = 28 %) to 1.3 (σ = 15 %). The average ratio for a large quantity of particles was 0.9 (σ = 3 %). Virtually all activity collected was beta and not alpha, suggesting little if any direct fuel debris was present at this site and time. These findings are expected to assist with separate efforts to better understand the emission events, radionuclide transport and potential environmental or biological uptake. The methods should be applicable to general environmental, radiotoxicological and similar studies for which activity distribution and particle chemistry are of importance.
Citation
Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry
Volume
296
Pub Type
Journals

Download Paper

DOI Link

Keywords

137Cs, 134Cs, activity distribution, Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, detection limit, Fukushima, imaging plate autoradiography, particle microanalysis, size distribution
Trace evidence, Public safety, Neutron research, Nanometrology, Metrology, Marine science, Forensic Science, Environmental health, Environment, Composition and structure, Analytical chemistry and Air / water / soil quality

Citation

Zeissler, C. , Forsley, L. , Lindstrom, R. , Newsome, S. , Kirk, A. and Mosier-Boss, P. (2012), Radio-microanalytical particle measurements method and application to Fukushima aerosols collected in Japan, Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, [online], https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-012-2135-x (Accessed October 10, 2025)

Issues

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Created August 25, 2012, Updated November 10, 2018
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