Decontamination of Outdoor School Swimming Pools in Fukushima after the Nuclear Accident in March 2011

Abstract

Because of radioactive fallout resulting from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) accident, water discharge from many outdoor swimming pools in Fukushima was suspended out of concern that radiocesium in the pool water would flow into farmlands. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency has reviewed the existing flocculation method for decontaminating pool water and established a practical decontamination method by demonstrating the process at eight pools in Fukushima. In this method, zeolite powder and a flocculant are used for capturing radiocesium present in pool water. The supernatant is discharged if the radiocesium concentration is less than the targeted level. The radioactive residue is collected and stored in a temporary storage space. Radioactivity concentration in water is measured with a NaI(Tl) or Ge detector installed near the pool. The demonstration results showed that the pool water in which the radiocesium concentration was more than a few hundred Bq L was readily purified by the method, and the radiocesium concentration was reduced to less than 100 Bq L. The ambient dose rates around the temporary storage space were slightly elevated; however, the total increase was up to 30% of the background dose rates when the residue was shielded with sandbags.