Abstract
Our research team has been monitoring the environmental consequences of radioactive contamination after the Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident in Yamakiya-district, Kawamata town, Fukushima prefecture. Research items are listed below.
Our monitoring result data demonstrated that the Cs-137 activity concentration in sediment eroded from the runoff-erosion plot, has been almost constant for the past 3 years, however the Cs-137 concentration of suspended sediment from the forested catchment showed a slight decrease through with time. On the other hand, the suspended sediment from paddy fields and those in river water from large catchments exhibited rapid decrease in Cs-137 activity concentration with time. The decreasing trend of Cs-137 activity concentration was fitted using a two-component exponential model. Differences in the exponential reduction rates of the model were compared and discussed with respect to various land uses and catchment scales. Such analysis can provide important insights into the future prediction of radiocesium wash-off from catchments with different land uses.
