Measurement of air dose rates over a wide area around the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant through a series of car-borne surveys

• Published in: Journal of environmental radioactivity Vol. 139; pp. 266 - 280
• Main Authors: Andoh, Masaki, Nakahara, Yukio, Tsuda, Shuichi, Yoshida, Tadayoshi, Matsuda, Norihiro, Takahashi, Fumiaki, Mikami, Satoshi, Kinouchi, Nobuyuki, Sato, Tetsuro, Tanigaki, Minoru, Takamiya, Koichi, Sato, Nobuhiro, Okumura, Ryo, Uchihori, Yukio, Saito, Kimiaki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01-01-2015
• Subjects: Air dose rate; Air Pollutants, Radioactive - analysis; Automobiles; Car-borne survey; Cesium; Construction; CsI (Tl) scintillation detector; Dosage; Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP accident; Fukushima Nuclear Accident; Japan; KURAMA; KURAMA-II; Nuclear power generation; Nuclear Power Plants; Radiation Monitoring - instrumentation; Radiation Monitoring - methods; Radioactive Fallout - analysis; Radioactivity; Radioisotopes - analysis; Seasons; Surveys; Trends; Japan; CsI (Tl) scintillation detector; KURAMA; Car-borne survey; KURAMA-II; Air dose rate; Fukushima Dai-ichi NPP accident
• ISSN: 0265-931X; 1879-1700
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvrad.2014.05.014

A series of car-borne surveys using the Kyoto University RAdiation MApping (KURAMA) and KURAMA-II survey systems has been conducted over a wide area in eastern Japan since June 2011 to evaluate the distribution of air dose rates around the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant and to evaluate the time-dependent trend of decrease in air dose rates. An automated data processing system for the KURAMA-II system was established, which enabled rapid analysis of large amounts of data obtained using about 100 KURAMA-II units. The initial data used for evaluating the migration status of radioactive cesium were obtained in the first survey, followed by other car-borne surveys conducted over more extensive and wider measurement ranges. By comparing the measured air dose rates obtained in each survey (until December 2012), the decreasing trend of air dose rates measured through car-borne surveys was found to be more pronounced than those expected on the basis of the physical decay of radioactive cesium and of the air dose rates measured using NaI (Tl) survey meters in the areas surrounding the roadways. In addition, it was found that the extent of decrease in air dose rates depended on land use, wherein it decreased faster for land used as building sites than for forested areas.
•Air dose rates distribution maps were constructed by Car-borne surveys.•KURAMA and KURAMA-II systems have been used for the measurement since 2011.•An automated data processing system for the KURAMA-II system was established.•Decreasing of the dose rates was more pronounced than those of the physical decay.•The dose rates decreased faster for building sites than for forested areas.