title: Dispersion of Fukushima radionuclides in the global atmosphere and the ocean.
abstract: Large quantities of radionuclides were released in March-April 2011 during the accident of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant to the atmosphere and the ocean. Atmospheric and marine modeling has been carried out to predict the dispersion of radionuclides worldwide, to compare the predicted and measured radionuclide concentrations, and to assess the impact of the accident on the environment. Atmospheric Lagrangian dispersion modeling was used to simulate the dispersion of (137)Cs over America and Europe. Global ocean circulation model was applied to predict the dispersion of (137)Cs in the Pacific Ocean. The measured and simulated (137)Cs concentrations in atmospheric aerosols and in seawater are compared with global fallout and the Chernobyl accident, which represent the main sources of the pre-Fukushima radionuclide background in the environment. The radionuclide concentrations in the atmosphere have been negligible when compared with the Chernobyl levels. The maximum (137)Cs concentration in surface waters of the open Pacific Ocean will be around 20 Bq/m(3). The plume will reach the US coast 4-5 y after the accident, however, the levels will be below 3 Bq/m(3). All the North Pacific Ocean will be labeled with Fukushima (137)Cs 10 y after the accident with concentration bellow 1 Bq/m(3).
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University, 84248 Bratislava, Slovakia. povinec@fmph.uniba.sk
authors.forename: P P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Povinec
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gera
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Holý
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hirose
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lujaniené
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakano
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Plastino
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sýkora
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bartok
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gažák
mesh_terms: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D062406:Fukushima Nuclear Accident; D007564:Japan; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D011847:Radioactive Fallout / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000396:Air Pollutants, Radioactive; D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes; D011847:Radioactive Fallout
keywords: Atmospheric radioactivity; Fukushima accident; Lagrangian atmospheric modeling; Marine radioactivity; Ocean global circulation model; Radionuclide source terms