Flow, stock and destination of radioactive fallout Cs-137 in the global environment

• Published in: Water science and technology 2000-01, Vol.42 (7-8), p.155-162
• Main Authors: MORISAWA, S, SHIMADA, Y, YONEDA, M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air. Soil. Water. Waste. Feeding; Applied sciences; Biological and medical sciences; Caesium; Cesium; Cesium 137; Computer simulation; Detonation; Differential equations; Distribution; Environment. Living conditions; Environmental impact; Environmental monitoring; Exact sciences and technology; Fallout; Global environmental pollution; Half-life; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Japan; Leukemia; Mass distribution; Mathematical models; Medical sciences; Mortality; Nuclear power plants; Ocean bottom; Ocean floor; Pollution; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Radioactive fallout; Radioactive half-life; Radioisotopes; Simulation; Transport
• ISSN: 0273-1223; 1996-9732
• DOI: 10.2166/wst.2000.0564

Environmental fate of radionuclide caesium-137 (Cs-137), which was released for more than 30 years since 1945 to the global environment by the atmospheric nuclear detonation tests, was analyzed from an aspect to determine the transport rate between environmental media, the accumulation and mass distribution in each media and the final destination. The mathematical model was developed and validated by comparing the model estimation with the monitoring data, and the final distribution of Cs-137 and its overall decreasing rate were evaluated together with the health risks to the reference Japanese. The mass distribution simulation showed that the final destination of the fallout Cs-137 is the deeper land and the ocean bottom, and that the apparent decreasing rate of Cs-137 in the humans' living environment is larger than the physical half-life of Cs-137 due to the environmental acceleration of radionuclide transportation.