TRITIUM AND IODINE-129 IN WATER SAMPLES COLLECTED ADJACENT TO A SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL REPROCESSING PLANT IN ROKKASHO, JAPAN

Abstract

Abstract Between April 2006 and October 2008, tritium ( 3H) and iodine-129 ( 129I) were released into the atmosphere and ocean from a spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Japan. From 2005 to 2020, water samples were collected from water bodies around the plant, including a river, groundwater wells, a brackish lake, a fishing port and a coastal sea, to measure spatiotemporal changes in 3H and 129I concentrations. Water samples from the brackish lake and the fishing port between 2006 and 2008 occasionally had higher than background levels of 3H and 129I. Batched discharge of waste 3H and 129I was quickly diluted by advection–diffusion processes in the coastal sea, causing 3H and 129I from the plant to be indetectable. By contrast, concentrations of 3H and 129I that flowed into the brackish lake and the fishing port through various routes were high, as these water bodies are mostly closed systems.