A review on status of marine radioecology in Indonesia after Fukushima accident

Abstract

Abstract A brief overview of the current status of marine radioecology in Indonesia after the Fukushima accident is given. Indonesia waters as a part of a global oceanic current, taking an essential role in distributing radionuclide releases from the Fukushima accident. Recent years have seen significant work conducted on the radioactivity marine environmental monitoring on the seawater, sediment, and biota both in offshore and coastal of Indonesia marine area. This article mainly focuses on the radiocesium (137Cs and 134Cs) as an essential conservative radionuclide released from the Fukushima accident. The distribution of anthropogenic radiocesium was comprehensively monitored from the West part Aceh to Papua in the East. Moreover, seawater masses bringing radiocesium at inflow and outflow of Indonesian Through Flow (ITF) was also observed. The activity ratios of 134Cs/137Cs measured at several locations are evaluated to gain an insight of radiocesium origins. It is important to note that the 137Cs radionuclides detected in the Indonesia marine area have been very low and comparable to other regional marine areas. On the other side, 134Cs radionuclide has been not detected over the Indonesia marine area.