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Yang H, Feng Q, Xu W, Tang Y, Bai G, Liu Y, Liu Z, Xia S, Wu Z, Zhang Y. Unraveling the nuclear isotope tapestry: Applications, challenges, and future horizons in a dynamic landscape. Eco Environ Health 2024; 3:208-226. [PMID: 38655003 PMCID: PMC11035956 DOI: 10.1016/j.eehl.2024.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2023] [Revised: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024]
Abstract
Nuclear isotopes, distinct atoms characterized by varying neutron counts, have profoundly influenced a myriad of sectors, spanning from medical diagnostics and therapeutic interventions to energy production and defense strategies. Their multifaceted applications have been celebrated for catalyzing revolutionary breakthroughs, yet these advancements simultaneously introduce intricate challenges that warrant thorough investigation. These challenges encompass safety protocols, potential environmental detriments, and the complex geopolitical landscape surrounding nuclear proliferation and disarmament. This comprehensive review embarks on a deep exploration of nuclear isotopes, elucidating their nuanced classifications, wide-ranging applications, intricate governing policies, and the multifaceted impacts of their unintended emissions or leaks. Furthermore, the study meticulously examines the cutting-edge remediation techniques currently employed to counteract nuclear contamination while projecting future innovations in this domain. By weaving together historical context, current applications, and forward-looking perspectives, this review offers a panoramic view of the nuclear isotope landscape. In conclusion, the significance of nuclear isotopes cannot be understated. As we stand at the crossroads of technological advancement and ethical responsibility, this review underscores the paramount importance of harnessing nuclear isotopes' potential in a manner that prioritizes safety, sustainability, and the greater good of humanity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hang Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
- School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
| | - Qi Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Weixiang Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Yadong Tang
- State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Guoliang Bai
- State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Yunli Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Zisen Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Shibin Xia
- School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
| | - Zhenbin Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
| | - Yi Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430072, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
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Maderich V, Tsumune D, Bezhenar R, de With G. A critical review and update of modelling of treated water discharging from Fukushima Daiichi NPP. Mar Pollut Bull 2024; 198:115901. [PMID: 38086108 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2023] [Revised: 11/30/2023] [Accepted: 12/03/2023] [Indexed: 01/05/2024]
Abstract
Since the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP) in March 2011 seawater is still needed to cool the reactor cores. This water, contaminated with radionuclides, has been collected in tanks and treated on the site of the FDNPP. In 2021, the Japanese government decided to gradually discharge treated water into the ocean, which started on the 24th of August 2023 and will continue for the next 30 years. This paper provides a critical analysis of the models that were used in the different radiological impact studies. Based on the analysis, a hydrodynamic and a compartment models with a harmonized setup were used to estimate the impact of the discharge on humans and biota. Doses obtained with these two models were within one order of magnitude for humans (<0.1 μSv/year) and for biota (<10-6 mGy/d) indicating that harmonization of the model parameters improved the reliability of the simulation results.
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Affiliation(s)
- V Maderich
- Institute of Mathematical Machine and System Problems, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - D Tsumune
- University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
| | - R Bezhenar
- Institute of Mathematical Machine and System Problems, Kyiv, Ukraine.
| | - G de With
- Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG), Arnhem, the Netherlands
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de With G, Vives I Batlle J, Bezhenar R, Maderich V, Pérez FF, Tacu A. Comparison of methods for the radiological impact assessment of aquatic releases to the waters in the low countries. Journal of Environmental Radioactivity 2023; 270:107271. [PMID: 37586186 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2023.107271] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2023] [Revised: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 08/08/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023]
Abstract
Accurate assessment of the radiological impact of liquid discharges on the marine environment is challenging despite all developments in recent years. The lack of consensus on this type of assessment manifests itself even stronger when transborder issues are expected, such as in the Low Countries. Belgium and the Netherlands operate nuclear power plants with discharges in the shared estuary of the Western Scheldt, therefore if there are safety concerns, information on both sides of the border must be coherent. This work provides a comparison of two computational methods used for assessment of aquatic releases in the Western Scheldt estuary and the adjacent North Sea.The work demonstrates a fair degree of consistency in modelling the uptake and fate of key anthropogenic radionuclides. Nevertheless, there are also considerable differences found in sediment and sea species with concentrations ranging by over two orders of magnitude in some cases. These explainable differences are methodological in nature, occurring in codes that underwent extensive validation during development. Therefore, the outcomes of this work clearly demonstrate the need to produce explicit guidance that is specifically tailored to the (inter)national water system of concern. This should not be limited to releases from nuclear power plants, but also include other nuclear applications. For all these reasons, more intensive collaboration and model harmonisation across borders is essential, signalling the direction for future investigations.
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Affiliation(s)
- G de With
- Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG), Utrechtseweg 310, NL-6800, ES Arnhem, the Netherlands.
| | - J Vives I Batlle
- Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, Boeretang 200, BE-2400, Mol, Belgium
| | - R Bezhenar
- Institute of Mathematical Machine and System Problems, Glushkov Av., 42, Kyiv, 03187, Ukraine
| | - V Maderich
- Institute of Mathematical Machine and System Problems, Glushkov Av., 42, Kyiv, 03187, Ukraine
| | | | - A Tacu
- Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG), Utrechtseweg 310, NL-6800, ES Arnhem, the Netherlands
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Nakamura K, Chiba S, Kiuchi T, Nabeshi H, Tsutsumi T, Akiyama H, Hachisuka A. Comprehensive analysis of a decade of cumulative radiocesium testing data for foodstuffs throughout Japan after the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0274070. [PMID: 36129916 PMCID: PMC9491560 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2022] [Accepted: 08/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The unexpected accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan, which occurred on March 11th, 2011, after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami struck the north-eastern coast of Japan, released radionuclides into the environment. Today, because of the amounts of radionuclides released and their relatively long half-life, the levels of radiocesium contaminating foodstuffs remain a significant food safety concern. Foodstuffs in Japan have been sampled and monitored for 134,137Cs since the accident. More than 2.5 million samples of foodstuffs have been examined with the results reported monthly during each Japanese fiscal year (FY, from April 1st to March 31st) from 2012 to 2021. A total of 5,695 samples of foodstuffs within the “general foodstuffs” category collected during this whole period and 13 foodstuffs within the “drinking water including soft drinks containing tea as a raw material” category sampled in FY 2012 were found to exceed the Japanese maximum permitted level (JML) set at 100 and 10 Bq/kg, respectively. No samples from the “milk and infant foodstuffs” category exceeded the JML (50 Bq/kg). The annual proportions of foodstuffs exceeding the JML in the “general foodstuffs” category varied between 0.37% and 2.57%, and were highest in FY 2012. The 134,137Cs concentration for more than 99% of the foodstuffs monitored and reported has been low and not exceeding the JML in recent years, except for those foodstuffs that are difficult to cultivate, feed or manage, such as wild mushrooms, plants, animals and fish. The monitoring data for foodstuffs show the current status of food safety risks from 134,137Cs contamination, particularly for cultured and aquaculture foodstuffs on the market in Japan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kosuke Nakamura
- National Institute of Health Sciences, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
- * E-mail:
| | - Shinji Chiba
- National Institute of Health Sciences, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Takashi Kiuchi
- National Institute of Health Sciences, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Hiromi Nabeshi
- National Institute of Health Sciences, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Tomoaki Tsutsumi
- National Institute of Health Sciences, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Akiyama
- National Institute of Health Sciences, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Akiko Hachisuka
- National Institute of Health Sciences, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
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Bezhenar R, Takata H, de With G, Maderich V. Planned release of contaminated water from the Fukushima storage tanks into the ocean: Simulation scenarios of radiological impact for aquatic biota and human from seafood consumption. Mar Pollut Bull 2021; 173:112969. [PMID: 34560391 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2021] [Revised: 09/11/2021] [Accepted: 09/13/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The radiological impact for human and aquatic biota as a result of a planned release of contaminated water stored in tanks near the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant to the Pacific Ocean is assessed. The total activity for 10 dominant radionuclides (3H, 14C, 60Co, 90Sr, 99Tc, 106Ru, 125Sb, 129I, 134Cs, 137Cs) in tanks is estimated. The compartment model POSEIDON-R is applied to compute the concentration of activity for each radionuclide in water, bottom sediments, and biota, and corresponding doses to marine organisms and humans from seafood consumption. Predicted concentrations of activity in marine products in future will not exceed food safety limits in Japan. The computed maximum committed effective dose to humans is less than 1 μSv per year with the highest contribution from 129I and 14C. Maximum absorbed doses to non-human biota are in the order of 0.05 to 20 μGy per year, meaning that no deleterious effects are expected.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Bezhenar
- Institute of Mathematical Machine and System Problems, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - H Takata
- Institute of Environmental Radioactivity, Fukushima University, Japan
| | - G de With
- Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG), Arnhem, the Netherlands
| | - V Maderich
- Institute of Mathematical Machine and System Problems, Kyiv, Ukraine.
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Periáñez R. APERTRACK: A particle-tracking model to simulate radionuclide transport in the Arabian/Persian Gulf. Progress in Nuclear Energy 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.pnucene.2021.103998] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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Zhao C, Wang G, Zhang M, Wang G, de With G, Bezhenar R, Maderich V, Xia C, Zhao B, Jung KT, Periáñez R, Akhir MF, Sangmanee C, Qiao F. Transport and dispersion of tritium from the radioactive water of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Mar Pollut Bull 2021; 169:112515. [PMID: 34023585 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112515] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2021] [Revised: 05/14/2021] [Accepted: 05/15/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Japan recently announced plans to discharge over 1.2 million tons of radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) into the Pacific Ocean. The contaminated water can poses a threat to marine ecosystems and human health. To estimate the impact of the plan, here, we developed a three-dimensional global model to track the transport and dispersion of tritium released from the radioactive water of the FDNPP. The pollution scenarios for four release durations (1 month, 1 year, 5 years, and 10 years) were simulated. The simulation results showed that for the release in short-duration scenarios (1 month and 1 year), the peak plume with high tritium concentration shifted with the currents and finally reached the northeastern Pacific. For the long-duration scenarios (5 years and 10 years), the peak plume of the contaminated water was confined to coastal regions east of Japan.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chang Zhao
- First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China; Laboratory for Regional Oceanography and Numerical Modeling, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao 266237, China; Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China; Shandong Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Qingdao 266061, China
| | - Gang Wang
- First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China; Laboratory for Regional Oceanography and Numerical Modeling, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao 266237, China; Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China; Shandong Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Qingdao 266061, China
| | - Min Zhang
- First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China; Laboratory for Regional Oceanography and Numerical Modeling, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao 266237, China; Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China; Shandong Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Qingdao 266061, China
| | - Guansuo Wang
- First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China; Laboratory for Regional Oceanography and Numerical Modeling, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao 266237, China; Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China; Shandong Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Qingdao 266061, China
| | - Govert de With
- Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG), Arnhem, the Netherlands
| | - Roman Bezhenar
- Institute of Mathematical Machine and System Problems, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Vladimir Maderich
- Institute of Mathematical Machine and System Problems, Kyiv, Ukraine
| | - Changshui Xia
- First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China; Laboratory for Regional Oceanography and Numerical Modeling, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao 266237, China; Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China; Shandong Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Qingdao 266061, China
| | - Biao Zhao
- First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China; Laboratory for Regional Oceanography and Numerical Modeling, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao 266237, China; Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China; Shandong Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Qingdao 266061, China
| | - Kyung Tae Jung
- Oceanic Consulting and Trading, Yangpyeong-ro, Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Raúl Periáñez
- Dpt. Física Aplicada I, ETSIA, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
| | - Mohd Fadzil Akhir
- Institute of Oceanography and Environment, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
| | - Chalermrat Sangmanee
- Oceanography and Environment Division, Phuket Marine Biological Center, Phuket, Thailand
| | - Fangli Qiao
- First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China; Laboratory for Regional Oceanography and Numerical Modeling, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao 266237, China; Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266061, China; Shandong Key Laboratory of Marine Science and Numerical Modeling, Qingdao 266061, China.
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