Distribution of rare earth elements, uranium and thorium in a 137Cs contaminated soil depth profile affected by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident
摘要
The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) accident caused a significant deposition of 137Cs onto the soil surface. In the present study, the depth profile of a soil sample was collected to check the migration of 137Cs contamination. 137Cs activity concentration was measured with a high purity germanium detector (HPGe). The activity concentrations of 137Cs in the 0–2 cm layer was 250 ± 1 kBq/kg whereas the 10–15 cm depth was 0.5 ± 0.01 kBq/kg. Rare earth elements (REEs), uranium (U), and thorium (Th) were measured in the same samples using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).