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 Similar measurements of fallout from the Chernobyl disaster at LBNL, previously unpublished publicly, are also presented here as a comparison with the Fukushima incident.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.
Highlights
Since the early 1980’s, the Low Background Facility (LBF) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has been analyzing laboratory’s environmental air sampler filters for the presence of any gamma-emitters, such as naturally occurring, 7Be and 210Pb
Monitoring of fallout from the Fukushima nuclear accident was performed on a variety of media at the LBNL Low Background Facility starting soon after the tsunami on March 14, 2011 and reported here through the end of 2012 on air filters, automobile air filters, and rainwater
More extensive analysis was performed upon rainwater samples from March 2011 that contained the highest measured activities in the Berkeley area in an effort to search for the presence of 90Sr in the rainwater that arrived in the initial weeks following the incident, in which it was not detected and one sigma limits were placed at
Summary
Since the early 1980’s, the Low Background Facility (LBF) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) has been analyzing laboratory’s environmental air sampler filters for the presence of any gamma-emitters, such as naturally occurring, 7Be and 210Pb. After the announcement of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, detailed monitoring began to search for fallout isotopes in environmental air filters at the local LBF station at LBNL and in rainwater in Oroville, CA. Due to extended reports and local concerns of contaminated water being leaked in 2013 into the ocean at Fukushima, a series of food measurements were performed in September of 2013 to search for fission products in fish and other food items from the Pacific region purchased at local Bay Area retail locations. Measurements of Fission Products from the Fukushima Daiichi Incident in San Francisco Bay Area Air Filters, Automobile Filters, Rainwater, and Food. The LBF at LBNL typically performs a variety of low background gamma spectroscopy services to a variety of experiments and end users. More information on the Low Background Facility at LBNL can be found in [6] and [7]
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