A dataset of 137Cs activity concentration and inventory in forests contaminated by the Fukushima accident

Shoji Hashimoto,George Shaw,Shinji Kaneko,Kazuya Nishina,Naohiro Imamura,Ayumi Kawanishi,Yves Thiry,Masabumi Komatsu,Shinta Ohashi

doi:10.1038/s41597-020-00770-1

Abstract

The majority of the area contaminated by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident is covered with forests. We developed a dataset for radiocaesium (137Cs) in trees, soil, and mushrooms measured at numerous forest sites. The 137Cs activity concentration and inventory data reported in scientific journal papers written in English and Japanese, governmental reports, and governmental monitoring data on the web were collated. The ancillary information describing the forest stands were also collated, and further environmental information (e.g. climate) was derived from the other databases using longitude and latitude coordinates of the sampling locations. The database contains 8593, 4105, and 3189 entries of activity concentration data for trees, soil, and mushrooms, and 471 and 3521 entries of inventory data for trees and soil, respectively, which were collected from 2011 to 2017, and covers the entire Fukushima prefecture. The data can be used to document and understand the spatio-temporal dynamics of radiocaesium in the affected region and to aid the development and validation of models of radiocaesium dynamics in contaminated forests.

Highlights

Background & SummaryThe Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident in 2011 is the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident in 1986
The weather conditions led to heterogeneous atmospheric deposits of radioactive materials, in particular caesium-134 (134Cs) and caesium-137 (137Cs), in eastern Japan
The largest landcover in the area contaminated by the FDNPP radioactive fallout is forest[1]

Summary

Introduction

Background & SummaryThe Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident in 2011 is the largest nuclear disaster since the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident in 1986. Radioactive materials leaked, and spread widely across Japan, especially in the north west region of the FDNPP. The largest landcover in the area contaminated by the FDNPP radioactive fallout is forest[1]. Since just after the accident, much research and monitoring of radiocaesium in forests has been conducted, and these studies have reported many data. These data were published in various media, for example, scientific papers both in international journals written in English and in domestic journals written in Japanese. The Japanese government and the local governments extensively collected data of radioactivity in contaminated forests, and those data were published in their domestic reports, which are not traceable. There was a specific dataset for monitored radioactivity in mushrooms that was made available on the web by the Japanese government

Objectives

Methods