Reassessment of Internal Thyroid Doses to 1,080 Children Examined in a Screening Survey after the 2011 Fukushima Nuclear Disaster

On 11 March 2011, the magnitude-9.0 earthquake and a substantial tsunami struck off the northeast coast of Japan. The Fukushima nuclear power plants were inundated and stricken, followed by radionuclide releases outside the crippled reactors. Provisional regulation values for radioactivity in food and drink were set on 17 March and were adopted from the preset index values, except that for radioiodines in water and milk ingested by infants. For radiocesiums, uranium, plutonium and transuranic α emitters, index values were defined in all food and drink not to exceed a committed effective dose of 5 mSv/year. Index values for radioiodines were defined not to exceed a committed equivalent dose to the thyroid of 50 mSv/year, and set in water, milk and some vegetables, but not in other foodstuffs. Index values were calculated as radioactive concentrations of indicator radionuclides ((131)I for radioiodines, (134)Cs and (137)Cs for radiocesiums) by postulating the relative radioactive concentration of coexisting radionuclides (e.g., (132)I, (133)I, (134)I, (135)I and (132)Te for (131)I). Surveys were thence conducted to monitor levels of (131)I, (134)Cs and (137)Cs. Provisional regulation values were exceeded in tap water, raw milk and some vegetables, and restrictions on distribution and consumption began on 21 March. Fish contaminated with radioiodines at levels of concern were then detected, so that the provisional regulation value for radioiodines in seafood adopted from that in vegetables were additionally set on 5 April. Overall, restrictions started within 25 days after the first excess in each food or drink item, and maximum levels were detected in leafy vegetables (54,100 Bq/kg for (131)I, and a total of 82,000 Bq/kg for (134)Cs and (137)Cs). This paper focuses on the logic behind such food safety regulations, and discusses its underlying issues. The outlines of the food monitoring results for 24,685 samples and the enforced restrictions will also be described. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Regional-scale atmospheric dispersion simulations were carried out to verify the source term of (131)I and (137)Cs estimated in our previous studies, and to analyze the atmospheric dispersion and surface deposition during the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. The accuracy of the source term was evaluated by comparing the simulation results with measurements of daily and monthly surface depositions (fallout) over land in eastern Japan from March 12 to April 30, 2011. The source term was refined using observed air concentrations of radionuclides for periods when there were significant discrepancies between the calculated and measured daily surface deposition, and when environmental monitoring data, which had not been used in our previous studies, were now available. The daily surface deposition using the refined source term was predicted mostly to within a factor of 10, and without any apparent bias. Considering the errors in the model prediction, the estimated source term is reasonably accurate during the period when the plume flowed over land in Japan. The analysis of regional-scale atmospheric dispersion and deposition suggests that the present distribution of a large amount of (137)Cs deposition in eastern Japan was produced primarily by four events that occurred on March 12, 15-16, 20, and 21-23. The ratio of wet deposition to the total varied widely depending on the influence by the particular event. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A primary health concern among residents and evacuees in affected areas immediately after a nuclear accident is the internal exposure of the thyroid to radioiodine, particularly I-131, and subsequent thyroid cancer risk. In Japan, the natural disasters of the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011 destroyed an important function of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (F1-NPP) and a large amount of radioactive material was released to the environment. Here we report for the first time extensive measurements of the exposure to I-131 revealing I-131 activity in the thyroid of 46 out of the 62 residents and evacuees measured. The median thyroid equivalent dose was estimated to be 4.2 mSv and 3.5 mSv for children and adults, respectively, much smaller than the mean thyroid dose in the Chernobyl accident (490 mSv in evacuees). Maximum thyroid doses for children and adults were 23 mSv and 33 mSv, respectively.