RAPID: Establishing Radionuclide Levels in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans Originating from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Facility

RAPID：确定大西洋和太平洋源自福岛第一核电站的放射性核素水平

• 批准号: 1136693
• 负责人: Ken Buesseler
• 金额: $ 15.76万
• 依托单位: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-05-15 至 2012-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1136693&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Establishing; Radionuclide; Levels; Atlantic

The March 11, 2011 earthquake in Japan and the subsequent tsunami damaged and disrupted cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power facility. Contamination of land and seas surrounding the site, as well as food supplies and drinking water, is being reported. Small but measurable quantities of radioactivity have been detected in the atmosphere over the US, including aerosol samples collected at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where I-131 was seen to increase to detectable levels as of March 21-22, and is continuing to increase.With funding through this Grant for Rapid Response Research (RAPID), investigators at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will establish a baseline radionuclide data set for the Atlantic and Pacific using an east to west network of sampling stations where they have the ability to sample regularly. The sites where the principal investigator has thus far made contact and has arrangements for sampling assistance include: Bermuda, WHOI, Santa Barbara Channel, Hawaii, Midway, Guam, and closer to the site in collaboration with Japanese scientists.Intellectual Merit: Establishing early activities after an accidental release of man-made radionuclides is key to understanding both the magnitude of the release and public health issues, as well as setting the stage for the use of the longer lived radionuclides as tracers in subsequent studies by the community to understand ocean processes. To put the total potential Fukushima Daiichi source in perspective, all of the atmospheric weapons testing in the 1950?s and 60?s released 36 million Curies of Cs-137, Chernobyl 1-3 million Curies, and Three Mile Island only 10 Curies. At Fukushima, the potential source of Cs-137 in the reactor cores is 67 million Curies and 180 million Curies in the spent fuel ponds.Broader Impacts: Data collected during this project will be shared with the larger community at both scientific meetings and deposited in appropriate data bases (WHOI BCO-DMO and IAEA Global Marine Radioactivity Database (GLOMARD)). The sampling network can be used to inform policy makers of radioactivity levels to consider for fisheries and human health. Collaboration with the Japanese is important to the success of this effort for both access to data and sampling in coastal waters, and the WHOI team will build upon existing relationships with JAMSTEC established under prior NSF funding (VERTIGO project). They will also include other Japanese universities and national labs that are monitoring radionuclides in air, land and oceans, as well as share data with the broader international community. In addition to building international relationships, the collaboration with H. Dulaiova at U. Hawaii will serve to mentor junior faculty and students at a U.S. university. The PI has already helped develop a web site at WHOI in response to the Japanese crisis and had several interviews with the media (web, print, TV). Public outreach is important as anxieties over radioactivity run high, and these results need to be put in context of natural sources of radiation, the scales and pathways of exposure and relative risks to society.

2011年3月11日的日本地震和随后的海啸破坏了福岛第一核电站的冷却系统。据报道，核电站周围的陆地和海洋，以及食品供应和饮用水都受到了污染。在美国上空的大气中已经检测到少量但可测量的放射性物质，包括在伍兹霍尔海洋研究所收集的气溶胶样本，在3月21日至22日期间，那里的I-131被发现增加到可检测的水平，并且还在继续增加。在快速反应研究基金的资助下，伍兹霍尔海洋研究所的研究人员将利用一个从东到西的采样站网络，为大西洋和太平洋建立一个基线放射性核素数据集，他们有能力定期采样。首席研究员迄今已与之取得联系并已安排抽样协助的地点包括：百慕大、WHOI、圣巴巴拉海峡、夏威夷、中途岛、关岛以及与日本科学家合作更靠近该地点的地点。智力价值：在人造放射性核素意外释放后开展早期活动，是了解释放规模和公共健康问题的关键，也是为社区在随后的研究中使用寿命较长的放射性核素作为示踪剂以了解海洋过程奠定基础的关键。从整体上看，福岛第一核电站的潜在源头，在20世纪50年代进行的所有大气武器试验？50美元和60美元？美国释放了3600万居里的铯-137，切尔诺贝利释放了100万至300万居里，而三里岛只释放了10居里。在福岛，反应堆堆芯中铯-137的潜在来源是6700万居里，乏燃料池中的居里为1.8亿居里。更广泛的影响：本项目期间收集的数据将在两次科学会议上与更大的社区共享，并存入适当的数据库（WHOI BCO-DMO和国际原子能机构全球海洋放射性数据库（GLOMARD））。采样网络可用于向决策者通报放射性水平，以便考虑渔业和人类健康。与日本的合作对于在沿海水域获取数据和采样的努力取得成功至关重要，世卫组织团队将在先前由美国国家科学基金会资助（VERTIGO项目）建立的与JAMSTEC的现有关系的基础上进一步发展。他们还将包括其他日本大学和国家实验室，这些实验室正在监测空气、陆地和海洋中的放射性核素，并与更广泛的国际社会共享数据。除了建立国际关系外，与夏威夷大学的H. Dulaiova的合作将有助于指导一所美国大学的初级教师和学生。为应对日本危机，PI已经帮助WHOI建立了一个网站，并接受了几次媒体采访（网络、印刷、电视）。公众宣传很重要，因为对放射性的焦虑情绪高涨，这些结果需要放在自然辐射源、暴露的规模和途径以及对社会的相对风险的背景下考虑。