Contamination of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station with actinide elements
-
Yoshikazu Koma
and
Erina Murakami
Abstract
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, which is owned by the Tokyo Electric Power Company, was damaged by the great earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, and serious contamination due to radioactive nuclides occurred. To investigate the waste management methodologies, contaminated materials were radiochemically analyzed. This paper reviews the analytical data concerning actinide elements. Contaminated water has accumulated in the basement of the reactor and other buildings, and actinide nuclides have been detected in this water. Actinides first get dissolved into the water inside the primary containment vessel, and then their concentration in the water decreases to a certain level with further flow. The contaminated water is chemically decontaminated; however, the actinide concentration does not decrease with time. This suggests that the actinides are continuously being supplied by the damaged fuel via slow dissolution. The dissolved transuranic (TRU) nuclides are recovered in the precipitate via a chemical treatment and are mostly removed from the water. Pu, Am, and Cm were detected in the topsoil at the site and appear to originate from the damaged fuel, whereas the detected U originates from natural sources. TRU nuclides slowly move in soil to deeper layers. The contamination of the rubble is nonuniform, and actinides are detected as well as fission products. Inside the reactor building of unit #2, the TRU nuclide concentration is comparatively higher near the boundary of the primary containment vessel, which experienced a fault during the accident. As for the vegetation, TRU nuclides were only found in fallen leaves near the reactor buildings.
Acknowledgements
This review was made as a part of the subsidy from Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The authors are grateful to Dr. Kenji Nishihara for his helpful discussion and calculation for the irradiated fuel, which is shown in the Appendix.
Appendix
The actinide radioactivity calculated for the damaged fuel of units #1–3 of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station is shown in Appendix Table 1. The calculation procedure is same as in Ref. [21], and the inputs for 234U and 236U were set according to a report by Bowman.[1]
The actinide radioactivity (Bq) calculated for the damaged fuel of units #1–3 of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
| Isotope | Unit 1 | Unit 2 | Unit 3 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 233U | 2.1×107 | 2.3×107 | 2.5×107 | 6.9×107 |
| 234U | 4.8×1010 | 4.1×1010 | 2.2×1011 | 3.1×1011 |
| 235U | 8.9×1010 | 1.4×1011 | 1.4×1011 | 3.6×1011 |
| 236U | 5.8×1011 | 7.2×1011 | 6.8×1011 | 2.0×1012 |
| 238U | 8.1×1011 | 1.1×1012 | 1.1×1012 | 3.0×1012 |
| 237Np | 5.2×1011 | 6.3×1011 | 5.7×1011 | 1.7×1012 |
| 238Pu | 4.6×1015 | 4.6×1015 | 5.5×1015 | 1.5×1016 |
| 239Pu | 7.0×1014 | 8.8×1014 | 1.0×1015 | 2.6×1015 |
| 240Pu | 8.9×1014 | 1.0×1015 | 1.4×1015 | 3.3×1015 |
| 241Pu | 2.2×1017 | 2.8×1017 | 3.1×1017 | 8.2×1017 |
| 242Pu | 2.9×1012 | 3.4×1012 | 4.0×1012 | 1.0×1013 |
| 243Pu | 2.1×1017 | 3.7×1017 | 4.1×1017 | 1.0×1018 |
| 241Am | 5.6×1014 | 4.3×1014 | 5.6×1014 | 1.6×1015 |
| 242mAm | 2.3×1013 | 1.8×1013 | 2.2×1013 | 6.3×1013 |
| 242Am | 1.7×1017 | 1.8×1017 | 2.1×1017 | 5.6×1017 |
| 243Am | 2.5×1013 | 3.0×1013 | 2.8×1013 | 8.3×1013 |
| 244mAm | 5.8×1016 | 1.0×1017 | 9.7×1016 | 2.6×1017 |
| 242Cm | 8.9×1016 | 8.9×1016 | 1.0×1017 | 2.8×1017 |
| 243Cm | 2.8×1013 | 2.5×1013 | 2.5×1013 | 7.8×1013 |
| 244Cm | 2.7×1015 | 3.2×1015 | 2.7×1015 | 8.6×1015 |
| 245Cm | 3.1×1011 | 3.6×1011 | 2.9×1011 | 9.6×1011 |
| 246Cm | 5.1×1010 | 5.9×1010 | 4.5×1010 | 1.5×1011 |
The values are relative to the shutdown of the power plant (t=0).
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©2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial: 150 years of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements
- Part A: Actinides and Transactinides
- Evolution of the periodic table through the synthesis of new elements
- Nuclear and chemical characterization of heavy actinides
- Direct mass measurements and ionization potential measurements of the actinides
- Relativity in the electronic structure of the heaviest elements and its influence on periodicities in properties
- The periodic table – an experimenter’s guide to transactinide chemistry
- Synthesis and properties of isotopes of the transactinides
- Part B: Nuclear Energy
- Homogenous recycling of transuranium elements from irradiated fast reactor fuel by the EURO-GANEX solvent extraction process
- Separation of trivalent actinides and lanthanides using various ‘N’, ‘S’ and mixed ‘N,O’ donor ligands: a review
- Separation of actinides from lanthanides associated with spent nuclear fuel reprocessing in China: current status and future perspectives
- Contamination of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station with actinide elements
- Protactinium(V) in aqueous solution: a light actinide without actinyl moiety
- What do we know about actinides-proteins interactions?
- Part C: Medical Radionuclides
- Positron-emitting radionuclides for applications, with special emphasis on their production methodologies for medical use
- Radiochlorine: an underutilized halogen tool
- Radiobromine and radioiodine for medical applications
- Radiochemical aspects of alpha emitting radionuclides for medical application
- Chelators and metal complex stability for radiopharmaceutical applications
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial: 150 years of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements
- Part A: Actinides and Transactinides
- Evolution of the periodic table through the synthesis of new elements
- Nuclear and chemical characterization of heavy actinides
- Direct mass measurements and ionization potential measurements of the actinides
- Relativity in the electronic structure of the heaviest elements and its influence on periodicities in properties
- The periodic table – an experimenter’s guide to transactinide chemistry
- Synthesis and properties of isotopes of the transactinides
- Part B: Nuclear Energy
- Homogenous recycling of transuranium elements from irradiated fast reactor fuel by the EURO-GANEX solvent extraction process
- Separation of trivalent actinides and lanthanides using various ‘N’, ‘S’ and mixed ‘N,O’ donor ligands: a review
- Separation of actinides from lanthanides associated with spent nuclear fuel reprocessing in China: current status and future perspectives
- Contamination of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station with actinide elements
- Protactinium(V) in aqueous solution: a light actinide without actinyl moiety
- What do we know about actinides-proteins interactions?
- Part C: Medical Radionuclides
- Positron-emitting radionuclides for applications, with special emphasis on their production methodologies for medical use
- Radiochlorine: an underutilized halogen tool
- Radiobromine and radioiodine for medical applications
- Radiochemical aspects of alpha emitting radionuclides for medical application
- Chelators and metal complex stability for radiopharmaceutical applications
