Cs-137 adsorption behavior of various clay minerals at actual concentration level in Fukushima

Abstract

Cs-adsorption experiment of clay minerals was conducted to reproduce the actual contamination level in Fukushima, using Cs-137 radioisotope and IP autoradiography. Various clay minerals were immersed together in dilute Cs-137 solutions (10^-11 to 10^-9 M) and the amount of Cs-137 adsorbed in each mineral was measured by IP autoradiography. Cs-137 was predominantly fixed in the weathered biotite collected in Fukushima compared to the other clay minerals, supporting our previous result that weathered biotite was dominantly found as radioactive soil particles in Fukushima.