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PLoS ONE. Distribution of Artificial Radionuclides in Abandoned Cattle in the Evacuation Zone of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
[Source: PLoS ONE, full page: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]
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Research Article
Distribution of Artificial Radionuclides in Abandoned Cattle in the Evacuation Zone of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
Tomokazu Fukuda, Yasushi Kino, Yasuyuki Abe, Hideaki Yamashiro, Yoshikazu Kuwahara, Hidekazu Nihei, Yosuke Sano, Ayumi Irisawa, Tsutomu Shimura, Motoi Fukumoto, Hisashi Shinoda, Yuichi Obata, Shin Saigusa, [ ... ], Tsutomu Sekine, Emiko Isogai, Manabu Fukumoto
Affiliation: [Full list on source page.]
Abstract
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) accident released large amounts of radioactive substances into the environment. In order to provide basic information for biokinetics of radionuclides and for dose assessment of internal exposure brought by the FNPP accident, we determined the activity concentration of radionuclides in the organs of 79 cattle within a 20-km radius around the FNPP. In all the specimens examined, deposition of Cesium-134 (<SUP>134</SUP>Cs, half-life: 2.065 y) and <SUP>137</SUP>Cs (30.07 y) was observed. Furthermore, organ-specific deposition of radionuclides with relatively short half-lives was detected, such as silver-110m (<SUP>110m</SUP>Ag, 249.8 d) in the liver and tellurium-129m (<SUP>129m</SUP>Te, 33.6 d) in the kidney. Regression analysis showed a linear correlation between the radiocesium activity concentration in whole peripheral blood (PB) and that in each organ. The resulting slopes were organ dependent with the maximum value of 21.3 being obtained for skeletal muscles (R<SUP>2</SUP> = 0.83, standard error (SE) = 0.76). Thus, the activity concentration of <SUP>134</SUP> Cs and <SUP>137</SUP>Cs in an organ can be estimated from that in PB. The level of radioactive cesium in the organs of fetus and infants were 1.19-fold (R<SUP>2</SUP> = 0.62, SE = 0.12), and 1.51-fold (R<SUP>2</SUP> = 0.70, SE = 0.09) higher than that of the corresponding maternal organ, respectively. Furthermore, radiocesium activity concentration in organs was found to be dependent on the feeding conditions and the geographic location of the cattle. This study is the first to reveal the detailed systemic distribution of radionuclides in cattle attributed to the FNPP accident.
Citation: Fukuda T, Kino Y, Abe Y, Yamashiro H, Kuwahara Y, et al. (2013) Distribution of Artificial Radionuclides in Abandoned Cattle in the Evacuation Zone of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. PLoS ONE 8(1): e54312. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054312
Editor: Suminori Akiba, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Japan
Received: July 7, 2012; Accepted: December 11, 2012; Published: January 23, 2013
Copyright: ? 2013 Fukuda et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This study was supported by an Emergency Budget for the Reconstruction of Northeastern Japan, MEXT, Japan; Discretionary Expense of the President of Tohoku University; National Cancer Center Research and Development Fund, Japan; The Research and Development Projects for Application in Promoting New Policy of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishers, MAFF, Japan; Programme for Promotion of Basic and Applied Researches for Innovations in Bio-oriented Industry, BRAIN, Japan. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
* E-mail: fukumoto@idac.tohoku.ac.jp
# These authors contributed equally to this work.
-Distribution of Artificial Radionuclides in Abandoned Cattle in the Evacuation Zone of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
Tomokazu Fukuda, Yasushi Kino, Yasuyuki Abe, Hideaki Yamashiro, Yoshikazu Kuwahara, Hidekazu Nihei, Yosuke Sano, Ayumi Irisawa, Tsutomu Shimura, Motoi Fukumoto, Hisashi Shinoda, Yuichi Obata, Shin Saigusa, [ ... ], Tsutomu Sekine, Emiko Isogai, Manabu Fukumoto
Affiliation: [Full list on source page.]
Abstract
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) accident released large amounts of radioactive substances into the environment. In order to provide basic information for biokinetics of radionuclides and for dose assessment of internal exposure brought by the FNPP accident, we determined the activity concentration of radionuclides in the organs of 79 cattle within a 20-km radius around the FNPP. In all the specimens examined, deposition of Cesium-134 (<SUP>134</SUP>Cs, half-life: 2.065 y) and <SUP>137</SUP>Cs (30.07 y) was observed. Furthermore, organ-specific deposition of radionuclides with relatively short half-lives was detected, such as silver-110m (<SUP>110m</SUP>Ag, 249.8 d) in the liver and tellurium-129m (<SUP>129m</SUP>Te, 33.6 d) in the kidney. Regression analysis showed a linear correlation between the radiocesium activity concentration in whole peripheral blood (PB) and that in each organ. The resulting slopes were organ dependent with the maximum value of 21.3 being obtained for skeletal muscles (R<SUP>2</SUP> = 0.83, standard error (SE) = 0.76). Thus, the activity concentration of <SUP>134</SUP> Cs and <SUP>137</SUP>Cs in an organ can be estimated from that in PB. The level of radioactive cesium in the organs of fetus and infants were 1.19-fold (R<SUP>2</SUP> = 0.62, SE = 0.12), and 1.51-fold (R<SUP>2</SUP> = 0.70, SE = 0.09) higher than that of the corresponding maternal organ, respectively. Furthermore, radiocesium activity concentration in organs was found to be dependent on the feeding conditions and the geographic location of the cattle. This study is the first to reveal the detailed systemic distribution of radionuclides in cattle attributed to the FNPP accident.
Citation: Fukuda T, Kino Y, Abe Y, Yamashiro H, Kuwahara Y, et al. (2013) Distribution of Artificial Radionuclides in Abandoned Cattle in the Evacuation Zone of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. PLoS ONE 8(1): e54312. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054312
Editor: Suminori Akiba, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Japan
Received: July 7, 2012; Accepted: December 11, 2012; Published: January 23, 2013
Copyright: ? 2013 Fukuda et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This study was supported by an Emergency Budget for the Reconstruction of Northeastern Japan, MEXT, Japan; Discretionary Expense of the President of Tohoku University; National Cancer Center Research and Development Fund, Japan; The Research and Development Projects for Application in Promoting New Policy of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishers, MAFF, Japan; Programme for Promotion of Basic and Applied Researches for Innovations in Bio-oriented Industry, BRAIN, Japan. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
* E-mail: fukumoto@idac.tohoku.ac.jp
# These authors contributed equally to this work.
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