Program - Brookhaven National Laboratory

Division of Biomedical Information Sciences, Institute of Health Biosciences, The University of
Tokushima. T. Kitade, Department of Laboratory, M & S Instruments Inc.. O. Shikino, Department of
Inorganic Analysis, PerkinElmer Japan Co. Ltd.. S. Nakayama, Department of Nuclear Science, Institute
of Socio-Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokushima.
The serious accident of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants (FNPP), was caused by the great
tsunami following the East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011. According to several numerical estimates
based on observed radiation dose data at survey points around FNPP, Japan Atomic Energy Agency reported
that total activities of released airborne radioactive cesium isotope (Cs-137) would amount to about
15 PBq, and also that total activities of strontium (Sr-90) would be three decades smaller than that of Cs-
137 [1]. The airborne radioactive isotopes from FNPP were measured by analyzing aerosols at Tokushima,
Shikoku Island in western Japan about 700 km away from Fukushima. So far, our research group has
carried out continuous monitoring of airborne radionuclides at Tokushima to measure the environmental
radioactivities associated with naturally occurring nuclides (Pb-214, Bi-214, Pb-212, and so on.) which
depend on the annual variation of weather. In the airborne sample collected on 23 March, 2011, the fission
product I-131 originated from FNPP was first detected at Tokushima through the continuous monitoring.
In addition, other radionuclides of Cs-134 and Cs-137 from FNPP were also observed in the beginning of
April, 2011. All those maximums of specific radioactivities of I-131, Cs-134, and Cs-137 were observed
to be about 2.5 to 3.5 mBq/m 3 in the airborne sample collected on 6th April. During the present course
of the continuous monitoring, we also had first observed both the seasonal Asian Dust (yellow dust) and
those radionuclides from FNPP at the same time in the beginning of May. We found that those specific
radioactivities of I-131, Cs-134 and Cs-137 fission products decrease drastically only for the period of Asian
Dust, however, those levels of naturally occurring nuclides do not vary well. To elucidate the characteristic
interaction decreasing those specific radioactivities due to Asian Dust in detail, there is a need to investigate
the correlation between radioactivities and trace- and macro-elemental concentrations contained in
the collected aerosol materials. It is remarkable that an isotope ratio of radionuclides (e.g. Cs-134, 137
and Sr-90) to stable nuclides (e.g. Cs-133 and Sr-88) changes before and after Asian Dust. In the present
work, we report not only a detection of those radionuclides originated from FNPP, but also a rapid analytical
method for determining those elemental concentration and isotope ratios using a quardrupole-based
ICPMS system with Dynamic Reaction Cell (ICP-DRC-MS) combined with an automated SPE (Solid
Phase Extraction) system. An aerosol material extraction procedure followed by homogenizer equipment
with the grinding of a glass sample filter was employed to effectively concentrate elements of interest into
the matrix using NOBIAS chelate and UTEVA resins with complex sequential processes programed on the
automated SPE system.
[1] Japan Atomic Energy Agency, ”Estimation of total released activities by Fukushima Nuclear Accident
and the reconstruction on the simulated distribution process”,
http://nsed.jaea.go.jp/ers/environment/envs/FukushimaWS/index.htm. (2011).
NF 3 11:20 AM
33 S(n,α) Cross Section Measurement at n TOF: Implications in Neutron Capture Therapy
I. Porras
Departamento de Física Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada,
E-18071 Granada, Spain.
J. Praena, M. Sabaté-Gilarte, J. M. Quesada
Departamento de Física Atómica, Molecular y Nuclear, Universidad de Sevilla, Spain.
The n TOF Collaboration
CERN, Switzerland
201