Do forests represent a long-term source of contaminated particulate matter in the Fukushima Prefecture?

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

卷:183

Article

Laceby, J. Patrick¹  Huon, Sylvain²  Onda, Yuichi³  Vaury, Veronique²  Evrard, Olivier¹ 

[1] Univ Paris Saclay, Ctr Rech CNRS, Lab Sci Climat & Environm LSCE IPSL, UMR 8212,CEA,CNRS,UVSQ, Bat,12 Ave Terrasse, F-91198 Gif Sur Yvette, France

[2] Univ Paris 06, Univ Paris 04, Inst Ecol & Sci Environm Paris iEES, Case 120,4 Pl Jussieu, F-75252 Paris 05, France

[3] Univ Tsukuba, Ctr Res Isotopes & Environm Dynam, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 3058572, Japan

关键词: FDNPP;    Sediment fingerprinting;    Sediment tracing;    Organic matter;    Stable isotopes;    Japan;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.09.020

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident resulted in radiocesium fallout contaminating coastal catchments of the Fukushima Prefecture. As the decontamination effort progresses, the potential downstream migration of radiocesium contaminated particulate matter from forests, which cover over 65% of the most contaminated region, requires investigation. Carbon and nitrogen elemental concentrations and stable isotope ratios are thus used to model the relative contributions of forest, cultivated and subsoil sources to deposited particulate matter in three contaminated coastal catchments. Samples were taken from the main identified sources: cultivated (n = 28), forest (n = 46), and subsoils (n = 25). Deposited particulate matter (n = 82) was sampled during four fieldwork campaigns from November 2012 to November 2014. A distribution modelling approach quantified relative source contributions with multiple combinations of element parameters (carbon only, nitrogen only, and four parameters) for two particle size fractions (<63 mu m and <2 mm). Although there was significant particle size enrichment for the particulate matter parameters, these differences only resulted in a 6% (SD 3%) mean difference in relative source contributions. Further, the three different modelling approaches only resulted in a 4% (SD 3%) difference between relative source contributions. For each particulate matter sample, six models (i.e. <63 mu m and <2 mm from the three modelling approaches) were used to incorporate a broader definition of potential uncertainty into model results. Forest sources were modelled to contribute 17% (SD 10%) of particulate matter indicating they present a long term potential source of radiocesium contaminated material in fallout impacted catchments. Subsoils contributed 45% (SD 26%) of particulate matter and cultivated sources contributed 38% (SD 19%). The reservoir of radio cesium in forested landscapes in the Fukushima region represents a potential long-term source of particulate contaminated matter that will require diligent management for the foreseeable future. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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