Radionuclide contamination in flood sediment deposits in the coastal rivers draining the main radioactive pollution plume of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan (2011-2020)

Artificial radionuclides including radiocesium (Cs-134 and Cs-137) and radiosilver (Ag-110m) were released into the environment following the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant accident in March 2011. These particle-bound substances deposited on soils of north-eastern Japan, located predominantly within a similar to 3000 km(2) radioactive fallout plume and drained by several coastal rivers to the Pacific Ocean. The current dataset (Evrard et al., 2021), which can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.928594, compiles gamma-emitting artificial radionuclide activities measured in 782 sediment samples collected from 27 to 71 locations across catchments draining similar to 6450 km(2) during 16 fieldwork campaigns. These campaigns were conducted in Japan between November 2011 and November 2020 in river catchments draining the main radioactive plume. This database may be useful to evaluate and anticipate the post-accidental redistribution of radionuclides in the environment and for the spatial validation of models simulating the transfer of radiocesium across continental landscapes.

Automated summary

A study compiled data on gamma-emitting artificial radionuclide activities measured in 782 sediment samples collected during 16 fieldwork campaigns in Japan from November 2011 to November 2020. This dataset may help in evaluating and anticipating the post-accidental redistribution of radionuclides in the environment and validating models simulating the transfer of radiocesium across continental landscapes.