News13.6.2013

Radioactivity transport from Fukushima to Thessaloniki, Greece and Milan, Italy

A large amount of radioactive materials were discharged into the atmosphere after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in Japan caused by magnitude 9.0 earthquake and a subsequent tsunami on March 11, 2011. The 131I concentration in air over Milan and Thessaloniki peaked on April 3–4, 2011.

The Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan is the worst nuclear disaster following the 1986 Chernobyl accident. Fukushima accident showed once again how fast airborne radionuclides can be transported over long distances, under certain meteorological conditions. Analyses of 131I, 137Cs and 134Cs in airborne aerosols were carried out in daily samples at two different sites of investigation: Thessaloniki, Greece (40° N) and Milan, Italy (45° N) after the Fukushima accident during the period of March–April, 2011. The radionuclide concentrations were determined and studied as a function of time. The 131I concentration in air over Milan and Thessaloniki peaked on April 3–4, 2011, with observed activities 467 μBq m−3 and 497 μBq m−3, respectively. Analysis of backward trajectories was used to confirm the arrival of artificial radionuclides following atmospheric transport and processing. HYSPLIT backward trajectories were applied for the interpretation of activity variations of measured radionuclides.

More information:

Eleni Giannakaki, Senior Researcher, eleni.giannakaki@fmi.fi

A. Ioannidou , E. Giannakaki, M. Manolopoulou, S. Stoulos, E. Vagena, C. Papastefanou, L. Gini, S. Manenti, F. Groppi, 2013, "An air-mass trajectory study of the transport of radioactivity from Fukushima to Thessaloniki, Greece and Milan, Italy", Atmospheric Environment, 75, p. 163-170.