Similarity of long-term temporal decrease in atmospheric Cs-137 between Chernobyl and Fukushima

We compare the atmospheric concentrations of Cs-137 after a decade between Chernobyl and Fukushima cases. We plotted 8 datasets on log-log axes (5 cases in Chernobyl and 3 cases Fukushima) and found that they appear to follow a single function.

There have been measured the atmospheric concentration after the Chernobyl accident for more than 30 years [1]. On the other hand, several teams of Japanese researchers have been measured in Fukushima and its vicinity for almost 10 years. [2][3] In this study, we compare 5 sites in Chernobyl (Pripyat, Chernobyl, Baryshevka, Kiev, and Polesskoe) and 3 sites in Fukushima (FDNPP O-6 and O-7, Univ. Fukushima).

We adjust the magnitude of the data because it depends on the amount of the initial deposition. After the adjustment, we plot the 8 cases on a log-log plot. We found that the 8 cases collapse together, with the power index of -1.6. Namely,

C(t) ~ t^{-1.6}.               …(1)

Incidentally, we have been proposed a formula which reproduce the long-term behavior of atmospheric concentration at a fixed location as

C(t) = A exp(-bt) t^{-4/3}    …(2)

where A is a parameter which relates to the amount of the initial deposition and b as the reaction rate of all the first-order reactions (including the radioactive decay rate, the vegetation uptake rate, the runoff rate, etc). We will investigate the difference in the power-law index in Eq. (1) and (2). The parameter b is highly dependent on the environment. When we take a proper value of b, the apparent decrease of the concentration will change from t^{-4/3}. We may make the apparent power-index close to -1.6.

 

[1] E. K. Garger, et al., J. Env. Radioact., 110 (2012) 53-58.

[2] A. Watanabe, et al., Atmos. Chem. Phys. 22 (2022) 675-692.

[3] T. Abe, K. Yoshimura, Y. Sanada, Aerosol and Air Quality Research, 21 (2021) 200636.