Measurements of Fission Products from the Fukushima Daiichi Incident in San Francisco Bay Area Air Filters, Automobile Filters, Rainwater, and Food

A. R. Smith, K. J. Thomas, E. B. Norman, D. L. Hurley, B. T. Lo, Y. D. Chan, P. V. Guillaumon, B. G. Harvey

1Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, USA; 2Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
Department of Physics, University of S?o Paulo, S?o Paulo, Brazil.
Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, USA.

DOI: 10.4236/jep.2014.53025                

Abstract

A variety of environmental media were analyzed for fallout radionuclides resulting from the Fukushima nuclear accident by the Low Background Facility (LBF) at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, CA. Monitoring activities in air and rainwater began soon after the onset of the March 11, 2011 tsunami and are reported here through the end of 2012. Observed fallout isotopes include ¹³¹I, ¹³²I, ¹³²Te, ¹³⁴Cs, ¹³⁶Cs, and ¹³⁷Cs. Isotopes were measured on environmental air filters, automobile filters, and in rainwater. An additional analysis of rainwater in search of ⁹⁰Sr is also presented. Last, a series of food measurements conducted in September of 2013 are included due to extended media concerns of ^134,137Cs in fish. Similar measurements of fallout from the Chernobyl disaster at LBNL, previously unpublished publicly, are also presented here as a comparison with the Fukushima incident. All measurements presented also include natural radionuclides found in the environment to provide a basis for comparison.

Keywords

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant; Fukushima; Fallout; Air Monitoring; Rainwater; Automobile Filters; Chernobyl

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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