🕷️ Crawler Inspector

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1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 12 (from laksa168)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa012.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://phys.org/news/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://phys.org/news/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html","crawl_time":1775494531,"first_indexed_time":1506970947,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"org,phys!\/news\/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html s443","src_root_hash":"5200908481159124812","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster","meta_descriptions":["Scientists have found a previously unsuspected place where radioactive material from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster has accumulated—in sands and brackish groundwater beneath beaches up to 60 miles away. The sands took up and retained radioactive cesium originating from the disaster in 2011 and have been slowly releasing it back to the ocean."],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"The research team sampled eight beaches in Japan within 60 miles of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant and found high levels of radioactive cesium discharged from the 2011 accident in the brackish groundwater beneath the beaches. The cesium did not constitute a public health concern, but it showed how radioactive material can be transported far from accidents sites, where it attaches to and is stored by sand grains. Credit: Souichiro Teriyaki, Kanazawa University\nScientists have found a previously unsuspected place where radioactive material from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster has accumulated—in sands and brackish groundwater beneath beaches up to 60 miles away. The sands took up and retained radioactive cesium originating from the disaster in 2011 and have been slowly releasing it back to the ocean.\n\"No one is either exposed to, or drinks, these waters, and thus public health is not of primary concern here,\" the scientists said in a study published October 2 in the\nProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\n. But \"this new and unanticipated pathway for the storage and release of radionuclides to the\nocean\nshould be taken into account in the management of coastal areas where\nnuclear power plants\nare situated.\"\nThe research team—Virginie Sanial, Ken Buesseler, and Matthew Charette of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Seiya Nagao of Kanazawa University—hypothesize that high levels of\nradioactive cesium\n-137 released in 2011 were transported along the coast by ocean currents. Days and weeks after the accident, waves and tides brought the cesium in these highly contaminated waters onto the coast, where cesium became \"stuck\" to the surfaces of sand grains. Cesium-enriched sand resided on the beaches and in the brackish, slightly salty mixture of fresh\nwater\nand\nsalt water\nbeneath the beaches.\nBut in salt water, cesium no longer \"sticks\" to the sand. So when more recent waves and tides brought in salty seawater from the ocean, the brackish water underneath the beaches became salty enough to release the cesium from the sand, and it was carried back into the ocean.\n\"No one expected that the highest levels of cesium in ocean water today would be found not in the harbor of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, but in the groundwater many miles away below the\nbeach\nsands,\" said Sanial.\nThe scientists estimated that the amount of contaminated water flowing into the ocean from this\nbrackish groundwater\nsource below the sandy beaches is as large as the input from two other known sources: ongoing releases and runoff from the nuclear power plant site itself, and outflow from rivers that continue to carry cesium from the fallout on land in 2011 to the ocean on river-borne particles. All three of these ongoing sources are thousands of times smaller today compared with the days immediately after the disaster in 2011.\nThe new study revealed a previously unsuspected pathway for radioactive material to be transported, stored for years, and subsequently released far from the site where it was initially discharged. Credit: Natalie Renier, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution\nThe team sampled eight beaches within 60 miles of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant between 2013 and 2016. They plunged 3- to 7-foot-long tubes into the sand, pumped up underlying groundwater, and analyzed its cesium-137 content. The cesium levels in the groundwater were up to 10 times higher than the levels found in seawater within the harbor of the nuclear power plant itself. In addition, the total amount of cesium retained more than 3 feet deep in the sands is higher than what is found in sediments on the seafloor offshore of the beaches.\nCesium has a long half-life and persists in the environment. In their analyses of the beaches, the scientists detected not only cesium-137, which may have come from the Dai-ichi plant or from nuclear weapons tested in the 1950s and1960s, but also cesium-134, a radioactive form of cesium that can only come only from the 2011 Fukushima accident.\nThe researchers also conducted experiments on Japanese beach samples in the lab to demonstrate that cesium did indeed \"stick\" to\nsand\ngrains and then lost their \"stickiness\" when they were flushed with salt water.\n\"It is as if the sands acted as a 'sponge' that was contaminated in 2011 and is only slowly being depleted,\" said Buesseler.\n\"Only time will slowly remove the\ncesium\nfrom the sands as it naturally decays away and is washed out by seawater,\" said Sanial.\n\"There are 440 operational nuclear reactors in the world, with approximately one-half situated along the coastline,\" the study's authors wrote. So this previously unknown, ongoing, and persistent source of contamination to coastal oceans \"needs to be considered in nuclear\npower\nplant monitoring and scenarios involving future accidents.\"\nPublication details\nVirginie Sanial el al., \"Unexpected source of Fukushima-derived radiocesium to the coastal ocean of Japan,\"\nPNAS\n(2017).\nwww.pnas.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.1708659114\nCitation\n:\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tScientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster (2017, October 2)\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tretrieved 6 April 2026\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tfrom https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html\nThis document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.","attrs_markdown":"[![Phys.org](https:\/\/phys.b-cdn.net\/tmpl\/v6\/img\/logo-header.png)](https:\/\/phys.org\/)\n\nTopics\n\n- [Week's top](https:\/\/phys.org\/weekly-news\/)\n- [Latest news](https:\/\/phys.org\/latest-news\/)\n- [Unread news](https:\/\/phys.org\/unread-news\/)\n- [Subscribe](https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html)\n### Science X Account\n\n- [Nanotechnology](https:\/\/phys.org\/nanotech-news\/)\n- [Physics](https:\/\/phys.org\/physics-news\/)\n- [Earth](https:\/\/phys.org\/earth-news\/)\n- [Astronomy & Space](https:\/\/phys.org\/space-news\/)\n- [Chemistry](https:\/\/phys.org\/chemistry-news\/)\n- [Biology](https:\/\/phys.org\/biology-news\/)\n- [Other Sciences](https:\/\/phys.org\/science-news\/)\n- [![Medical Xpress](https:\/\/phys.b-cdn.net\/tmpl\/v6\/img\/MedicalXpress2.svg) Medicine](https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/)\n- [![Tech Xplore](https:\/\/phys.b-cdn.net\/tmpl\/v6\/img\/techX_w.svg) Technology](https:\/\/techxplore.com\/)\n\n- share this\\!\n- [1\\.1K]()\n- [Tweet](https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html)\n- [Share](https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html)\n- [Email](mailto:)\n\n1. [Home](https:\/\/phys.org\/)\n2. [Earth](https:\/\/phys.org\/earth-news\/)\n3. [Environment](https:\/\/phys.org\/earth-news\/environment\/)\n***\nOctober 2, 2017\n\n# Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster\nby [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution](http:\/\/www.whoi.edu\/)\n\n[Add as preferred source](https:\/\/google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https%3A%2F%2Fphys.org%2F)\n***\n\n![Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster](https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2017\/29-scientistsfi.jpg)\n\nThe research team sampled eight beaches in Japan within 60 miles of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant and found high levels of radioactive cesium discharged from the 2011 accident in the brackish groundwater beneath the beaches. The cesium did not constitute a public health concern, but it showed how radioactive material can be transported far from accidents sites, where it attaches to and is stored by sand grains. Credit: Souichiro Teriyaki, Kanazawa University\n\nScientists have found a previously unsuspected place where radioactive material from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster has accumulated—in sands and brackish groundwater beneath beaches up to 60 miles away. The sands took up and retained radioactive cesium originating from the disaster in 2011 and have been slowly releasing it back to the ocean.\n\n\"No one is either exposed to, or drinks, these waters, and thus public health is not of primary concern here,\" the scientists said in a study published October 2 in the *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*. But \"this new and unanticipated pathway for the storage and release of radionuclides to the [ocean](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/ocean\/) should be taken into account in the management of coastal areas where [nuclear power plants](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/nuclear+power+plants\/) are situated.\"\n\nThe research team—Virginie Sanial, Ken Buesseler, and Matthew Charette of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Seiya Nagao of Kanazawa University—hypothesize that high levels of [radioactive cesium](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/radioactive+cesium\/)\\-137 released in 2011 were transported along the coast by ocean currents. Days and weeks after the accident, waves and tides brought the cesium in these highly contaminated waters onto the coast, where cesium became \"stuck\" to the surfaces of sand grains. Cesium-enriched sand resided on the beaches and in the brackish, slightly salty mixture of fresh [water](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/water\/) and [salt water](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/salt+water\/) beneath the beaches.\n\nBut in salt water, cesium no longer \"sticks\" to the sand. So when more recent waves and tides brought in salty seawater from the ocean, the brackish water underneath the beaches became salty enough to release the cesium from the sand, and it was carried back into the ocean.\n\n\"No one expected that the highest levels of cesium in ocean water today would be found not in the harbor of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, but in the groundwater many miles away below the [beach](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/beach\/) sands,\" said Sanial.\n\nThe scientists estimated that the amount of contaminated water flowing into the ocean from this [brackish groundwater](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/brackish+groundwater\/) source below the sandy beaches is as large as the input from two other known sources: ongoing releases and runoff from the nuclear power plant site itself, and outflow from rivers that continue to carry cesium from the fallout on land in 2011 to the ocean on river-borne particles. All three of these ongoing sources are thousands of times smaller today compared with the days immediately after the disaster in 2011.\n\n![Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster](https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2017\/30-scientistsfi.jpg)\n\nThe new study revealed a previously unsuspected pathway for radioactive material to be transported, stored for years, and subsequently released far from the site where it was initially discharged. Credit: Natalie Renier, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution\n\nThe team sampled eight beaches within 60 miles of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant between 2013 and 2016. They plunged 3- to 7-foot-long tubes into the sand, pumped up underlying groundwater, and analyzed its cesium-137 content. The cesium levels in the groundwater were up to 10 times higher than the levels found in seawater within the harbor of the nuclear power plant itself. In addition, the total amount of cesium retained more than 3 feet deep in the sands is higher than what is found in sediments on the seafloor offshore of the beaches.\n\nDiscover the latest in science, tech, and space with over **100,000 subscribers** who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. Sign up for our [free newsletter](https:\/\/sciencex.com\/help\/newsletter\/) and get updates on breakthroughs, innovations, and research that matter—**daily or weekly**.\n\nCesium has a long half-life and persists in the environment. In their analyses of the beaches, the scientists detected not only cesium-137, which may have come from the Dai-ichi plant or from nuclear weapons tested in the 1950s and1960s, but also cesium-134, a radioactive form of cesium that can only come only from the 2011 Fukushima accident.\n\nThe researchers also conducted experiments on Japanese beach samples in the lab to demonstrate that cesium did indeed \"stick\" to [sand](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/sand\/) grains and then lost their \"stickiness\" when they were flushed with salt water.\n\n\"It is as if the sands acted as a 'sponge' that was contaminated in 2011 and is only slowly being depleted,\" said Buesseler.\n\n\"Only time will slowly remove the [cesium](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/cesium\/) from the sands as it naturally decays away and is washed out by seawater,\" said Sanial.\n\n\"There are 440 operational nuclear reactors in the world, with approximately one-half situated along the coastline,\" the study's authors wrote. So this previously unknown, ongoing, and persistent source of contamination to coastal oceans \"needs to be considered in nuclear [power](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/power\/) plant monitoring and scenarios involving future accidents.\"\n\n###### Publication details\nVirginie Sanial el al., \"Unexpected source of Fukushima-derived radiocesium to the coastal ocean of Japan,\" *PNAS* (2017). [www.pnas.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.1708659114](http:\/\/www.pnas.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.1708659114)\n\n**Journal information:** [Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences](https:\/\/phys.org\/journals\/proceedings-of-the-national-academy-of-sciences\/)\n\nProvided by [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution](https:\/\/phys.org\/partners\/woods-hole-oceanographic-institution\/)\n\n**Citation**: Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster (2017, October 2) retrieved 6 April 2026 from https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html\n\nThis document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. 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[Full disclaimer](https:\/\/sciencex.com\/help\/ai-disclaimer\/)\n##### Let us know if there is a problem with our content\n###### E-mail the story\n##### Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster\n\n#### Donate and enjoy an ad-free experience\nWe keep our content available to everyone. Consider supporting Science X's mission by getting a premium account.\n\n[Remove ads](https:\/\/sciencex.com\/donate\/?utm_source=phys&utm_medium=desktop&utm_campaign=popup)\n\n[Maybe later](https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html)\n\n[![Medical Xpress](https:\/\/phys.b-cdn.net\/tmpl\/v6\/img\/MedicalXpress.svg) Medical Xpress Medical research advances and health news](https:\/\/medicalxpress.com\/)\n\n[![Tech Xplore](https:\/\/phys.b-cdn.net\/tmpl\/v6\/img\/techexploer.svg) Tech Xplore The latest engineering, electronics and technology advances](https:\/\/techxplore.com\/)\n\n[![Science X](https:\/\/phys.b-cdn.net\/tmpl\/v6\/img\/ScienceX.svg) Science X The most comprehensive sci-tech news coverage on the web](https:\/\/sciencex.com\/)\n\n## Newsletters\n## Follow us\n\n- [Top](https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html)\n- [Home](https:\/\/phys.org\/)\n- [Search](https:\/\/phys.org\/search\/)\n- [Mobile version](https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html?deviceType=mobile)\n\n- [Help](https:\/\/sciencex.com\/help\/)\n- [FAQ](https:\/\/sciencex.com\/help\/contactus\/)\n- [About](https:\/\/sciencex.com\/help\/about-us\/)\n- [Contact](https:\/\/sciencex.com\/help\/feedback\/)\n\n- [Support us](https:\/\/sciencex.com\/help\/donate\/)\n- [Science X Account](https:\/\/sciencex.com\/profile\/)\n- [Archive](https:\/\/phys.org\/archive\/)\n- [News wire](https:\/\/sciencex.com\/wire-news\/)\n\n- [Android app](https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.PhysOrg.RssLite)\n- [iOS app](https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/phys-org\/id356443503?mt=8)\n- [RSS feeds](https:\/\/phys.org\/feeds\/)\n- [Push notification]()\n\n© Phys.org 2003 - 2026 powered by [Science X Network](https:\/\/sciencex.com\/)\n\n[Privacy policy](https:\/\/sciencex.com\/help\/privacy\/) [Terms of use](https:\/\/sciencex.com\/help\/terms\/)\n\n#### E-mail newsletter\n#### Follow us\n\n![Quantcast](https:\/\/pixel.quantserve.com\/pixel\/p-5dNhPAnM9r0yY.gif)","attrs_readable_markdown":"![Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster](https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2017\/29-scientistsfi.jpg)\n\nThe research team sampled eight beaches in Japan within 60 miles of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant and found high levels of radioactive cesium discharged from the 2011 accident in the brackish groundwater beneath the beaches. The cesium did not constitute a public health concern, but it showed how radioactive material can be transported far from accidents sites, where it attaches to and is stored by sand grains. Credit: Souichiro Teriyaki, Kanazawa University\n\nScientists have found a previously unsuspected place where radioactive material from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster has accumulated—in sands and brackish groundwater beneath beaches up to 60 miles away. The sands took up and retained radioactive cesium originating from the disaster in 2011 and have been slowly releasing it back to the ocean.\n\n\"No one is either exposed to, or drinks, these waters, and thus public health is not of primary concern here,\" the scientists said in a study published October 2 in the *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences*. But \"this new and unanticipated pathway for the storage and release of radionuclides to the [ocean](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/ocean\/) should be taken into account in the management of coastal areas where [nuclear power plants](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/nuclear+power+plants\/) are situated.\"\n\nThe research team—Virginie Sanial, Ken Buesseler, and Matthew Charette of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Seiya Nagao of Kanazawa University—hypothesize that high levels of [radioactive cesium](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/radioactive+cesium\/)\\-137 released in 2011 were transported along the coast by ocean currents. Days and weeks after the accident, waves and tides brought the cesium in these highly contaminated waters onto the coast, where cesium became \"stuck\" to the surfaces of sand grains. Cesium-enriched sand resided on the beaches and in the brackish, slightly salty mixture of fresh [water](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/water\/) and [salt water](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/salt+water\/) beneath the beaches.\n\nBut in salt water, cesium no longer \"sticks\" to the sand. So when more recent waves and tides brought in salty seawater from the ocean, the brackish water underneath the beaches became salty enough to release the cesium from the sand, and it was carried back into the ocean.\n\n\"No one expected that the highest levels of cesium in ocean water today would be found not in the harbor of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, but in the groundwater many miles away below the [beach](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/beach\/) sands,\" said Sanial.\n\nThe scientists estimated that the amount of contaminated water flowing into the ocean from this [brackish groundwater](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/brackish+groundwater\/) source below the sandy beaches is as large as the input from two other known sources: ongoing releases and runoff from the nuclear power plant site itself, and outflow from rivers that continue to carry cesium from the fallout on land in 2011 to the ocean on river-borne particles. All three of these ongoing sources are thousands of times smaller today compared with the days immediately after the disaster in 2011.\n\n![Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster](https:\/\/scx1.b-cdn.net\/csz\/news\/800a\/2017\/30-scientistsfi.jpg)\n\nThe new study revealed a previously unsuspected pathway for radioactive material to be transported, stored for years, and subsequently released far from the site where it was initially discharged. Credit: Natalie Renier, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution\n\nThe team sampled eight beaches within 60 miles of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant between 2013 and 2016. They plunged 3- to 7-foot-long tubes into the sand, pumped up underlying groundwater, and analyzed its cesium-137 content. The cesium levels in the groundwater were up to 10 times higher than the levels found in seawater within the harbor of the nuclear power plant itself. In addition, the total amount of cesium retained more than 3 feet deep in the sands is higher than what is found in sediments on the seafloor offshore of the beaches.\n\nCesium has a long half-life and persists in the environment. In their analyses of the beaches, the scientists detected not only cesium-137, which may have come from the Dai-ichi plant or from nuclear weapons tested in the 1950s and1960s, but also cesium-134, a radioactive form of cesium that can only come only from the 2011 Fukushima accident.\n\nThe researchers also conducted experiments on Japanese beach samples in the lab to demonstrate that cesium did indeed \"stick\" to [sand](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/sand\/) grains and then lost their \"stickiness\" when they were flushed with salt water.\n\n\"It is as if the sands acted as a 'sponge' that was contaminated in 2011 and is only slowly being depleted,\" said Buesseler.\n\n\"Only time will slowly remove the [cesium](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/cesium\/) from the sands as it naturally decays away and is washed out by seawater,\" said Sanial.\n\n\"There are 440 operational nuclear reactors in the world, with approximately one-half situated along the coastline,\" the study's authors wrote. So this previously unknown, ongoing, and persistent source of contamination to coastal oceans \"needs to be considered in nuclear [power](https:\/\/phys.org\/tags\/power\/) plant monitoring and scenarios involving future accidents.\"\n\n###### Publication details\nVirginie Sanial el al., \"Unexpected source of Fukushima-derived radiocesium to the coastal ocean of Japan,\" *PNAS* (2017). [www.pnas.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.1708659114](http:\/\/www.pnas.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.1708659114)\n\n**Citation**: Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster (2017, October 2) retrieved 6 April 2026 from https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html\n\nThis document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.","meta_canonical":null}

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Meta Title	Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster
Meta Description	Scientists have found a previously unsuspected place where radioactive material from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster has accumulated—in sands and brackish groundwater beneath beaches up to 60 miles away. The sands took up and retained radioactive cesium originating from the disaster in 2011 and have been slowly releasing it back to the ocean.
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Boilerpipe Text	The research team sampled eight beaches in Japan within 60 miles of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant and found high levels of radioactive cesium discharged from the 2011 accident in the brackish groundwater beneath the beaches. The cesium did not constitute a public health concern, but it showed how radioactive material can be transported far from accidents sites, where it attaches to and is stored by sand grains. Credit: Souichiro Teriyaki, Kanazawa University Scientists have found a previously unsuspected place where radioactive material from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster has accumulated—in sands and brackish groundwater beneath beaches up to 60 miles away. The sands took up and retained radioactive cesium originating from the disaster in 2011 and have been slowly releasing it back to the ocean. "No one is either exposed to, or drinks, these waters, and thus public health is not of primary concern here," the scientists said in a study published October 2 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . But "this new and unanticipated pathway for the storage and release of radionuclides to the ocean should be taken into account in the management of coastal areas where nuclear power plants are situated." The research team—Virginie Sanial, Ken Buesseler, and Matthew Charette of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Seiya Nagao of Kanazawa University—hypothesize that high levels of radioactive cesium -137 released in 2011 were transported along the coast by ocean currents. Days and weeks after the accident, waves and tides brought the cesium in these highly contaminated waters onto the coast, where cesium became "stuck" to the surfaces of sand grains. Cesium-enriched sand resided on the beaches and in the brackish, slightly salty mixture of fresh water and salt water beneath the beaches. But in salt water, cesium no longer "sticks" to the sand. So when more recent waves and tides brought in salty seawater from the ocean, the brackish water underneath the beaches became salty enough to release the cesium from the sand, and it was carried back into the ocean. "No one expected that the highest levels of cesium in ocean water today would be found not in the harbor of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, but in the groundwater many miles away below the beach sands," said Sanial. The scientists estimated that the amount of contaminated water flowing into the ocean from this brackish groundwater source below the sandy beaches is as large as the input from two other known sources: ongoing releases and runoff from the nuclear power plant site itself, and outflow from rivers that continue to carry cesium from the fallout on land in 2011 to the ocean on river-borne particles. All three of these ongoing sources are thousands of times smaller today compared with the days immediately after the disaster in 2011. The new study revealed a previously unsuspected pathway for radioactive material to be transported, stored for years, and subsequently released far from the site where it was initially discharged. Credit: Natalie Renier, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The team sampled eight beaches within 60 miles of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant between 2013 and 2016. They plunged 3- to 7-foot-long tubes into the sand, pumped up underlying groundwater, and analyzed its cesium-137 content. The cesium levels in the groundwater were up to 10 times higher than the levels found in seawater within the harbor of the nuclear power plant itself. In addition, the total amount of cesium retained more than 3 feet deep in the sands is higher than what is found in sediments on the seafloor offshore of the beaches. Cesium has a long half-life and persists in the environment. In their analyses of the beaches, the scientists detected not only cesium-137, which may have come from the Dai-ichi plant or from nuclear weapons tested in the 1950s and1960s, but also cesium-134, a radioactive form of cesium that can only come only from the 2011 Fukushima accident. The researchers also conducted experiments on Japanese beach samples in the lab to demonstrate that cesium did indeed "stick" to sand grains and then lost their "stickiness" when they were flushed with salt water. "It is as if the sands acted as a 'sponge' that was contaminated in 2011 and is only slowly being depleted," said Buesseler. "Only time will slowly remove the cesium from the sands as it naturally decays away and is washed out by seawater," said Sanial. "There are 440 operational nuclear reactors in the world, with approximately one-half situated along the coastline," the study's authors wrote. So this previously unknown, ongoing, and persistent source of contamination to coastal oceans "needs to be considered in nuclear power plant monitoring and scenarios involving future accidents." Publication details Virginie Sanial el al., "Unexpected source of Fukushima-derived radiocesium to the coastal ocean of Japan," PNAS (2017). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1708659114 Citation : Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster (2017, October 2) retrieved 6 April 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
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[Home](https://phys.org/) 2. [Earth](https://phys.org/earth-news/) 3. [Environment](https://phys.org/earth-news/environment/) * October 2, 2017 # Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster by [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution](http://www.whoi.edu/) [Add as preferred source](https://google.com/preferences/source?q=https%3A%2F%2Fphys.org%2F) * ![Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2017/29-scientistsfi.jpg) The research team sampled eight beaches in Japan within 60 miles of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant and found high levels of radioactive cesium discharged from the 2011 accident in the brackish groundwater beneath the beaches. The cesium did not constitute a public health concern, but it showed how radioactive material can be transported far from accidents sites, where it attaches to and is stored by sand grains. Credit: Souichiro Teriyaki, Kanazawa University Scientists have found a previously unsuspected place where radioactive material from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster has accumulated—in sands and brackish groundwater beneath beaches up to 60 miles away. The sands took up and retained radioactive cesium originating from the disaster in 2011 and have been slowly releasing it back to the ocean. "No one is either exposed to, or drinks, these waters, and thus public health is not of primary concern here," the scientists said in a study published October 2 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But "this new and unanticipated pathway for the storage and release of radionuclides to the [ocean](https://phys.org/tags/ocean/) should be taken into account in the management of coastal areas where [nuclear power plants](https://phys.org/tags/nuclear+power+plants/) are situated." The research team—Virginie Sanial, Ken Buesseler, and Matthew Charette of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Seiya Nagao of Kanazawa University—hypothesize that high levels of [radioactive cesium](https://phys.org/tags/radioactive+cesium/)\-137 released in 2011 were transported along the coast by ocean currents. Days and weeks after the accident, waves and tides brought the cesium in these highly contaminated waters onto the coast, where cesium became "stuck" to the surfaces of sand grains. Cesium-enriched sand resided on the beaches and in the brackish, slightly salty mixture of fresh [water](https://phys.org/tags/water/) and [salt water](https://phys.org/tags/salt+water/) beneath the beaches. But in salt water, cesium no longer "sticks" to the sand. So when more recent waves and tides brought in salty seawater from the ocean, the brackish water underneath the beaches became salty enough to release the cesium from the sand, and it was carried back into the ocean. "No one expected that the highest levels of cesium in ocean water today would be found not in the harbor of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, but in the groundwater many miles away below the [beach](https://phys.org/tags/beach/) sands," said Sanial. The scientists estimated that the amount of contaminated water flowing into the ocean from this [brackish groundwater](https://phys.org/tags/brackish+groundwater/) source below the sandy beaches is as large as the input from two other known sources: ongoing releases and runoff from the nuclear power plant site itself, and outflow from rivers that continue to carry cesium from the fallout on land in 2011 to the ocean on river-borne particles. All three of these ongoing sources are thousands of times smaller today compared with the days immediately after the disaster in 2011. ![Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2017/30-scientistsfi.jpg) The new study revealed a previously unsuspected pathway for radioactive material to be transported, stored for years, and subsequently released far from the site where it was initially discharged. Credit: Natalie Renier, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The team sampled eight beaches within 60 miles of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant between 2013 and 2016. They plunged 3- to 7-foot-long tubes into the sand, pumped up underlying groundwater, and analyzed its cesium-137 content. The cesium levels in the groundwater were up to 10 times higher than the levels found in seawater within the harbor of the nuclear power plant itself. In addition, the total amount of cesium retained more than 3 feet deep in the sands is higher than what is found in sediments on the seafloor offshore of the beaches. Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. Sign up for our [free newsletter](https://sciencex.com/help/newsletter/) and get updates on breakthroughs, innovations, and research that matter—daily or weekly. Cesium has a long half-life and persists in the environment. In their analyses of the beaches, the scientists detected not only cesium-137, which may have come from the Dai-ichi plant or from nuclear weapons tested in the 1950s and1960s, but also cesium-134, a radioactive form of cesium that can only come only from the 2011 Fukushima accident. The researchers also conducted experiments on Japanese beach samples in the lab to demonstrate that cesium did indeed "stick" to [sand](https://phys.org/tags/sand/) grains and then lost their "stickiness" when they were flushed with salt water. "It is as if the sands acted as a 'sponge' that was contaminated in 2011 and is only slowly being depleted," said Buesseler. "Only time will slowly remove the [cesium](https://phys.org/tags/cesium/) from the sands as it naturally decays away and is washed out by seawater," said Sanial. "There are 440 operational nuclear reactors in the world, with approximately one-half situated along the coastline," the study's authors wrote. So this previously unknown, ongoing, and persistent source of contamination to coastal oceans "needs to be considered in nuclear [power](https://phys.org/tags/power/) plant monitoring and scenarios involving future accidents." ###### Publication details Virginie Sanial el al., "Unexpected source of Fukushima-derived radiocesium to the coastal ocean of Japan," PNAS (2017). [www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1708659114](http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1708659114) Journal information: [Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences](https://phys.org/journals/proceedings-of-the-national-academy-of-sciences/) Provided by [Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution](https://phys.org/partners/woods-hole-oceanographic-institution/) Citation: Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster (2017, October 2) retrieved 6 April 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. 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Readable Markdown	![Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2017/29-scientistsfi.jpg) The research team sampled eight beaches in Japan within 60 miles of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant and found high levels of radioactive cesium discharged from the 2011 accident in the brackish groundwater beneath the beaches. The cesium did not constitute a public health concern, but it showed how radioactive material can be transported far from accidents sites, where it attaches to and is stored by sand grains. Credit: Souichiro Teriyaki, Kanazawa University Scientists have found a previously unsuspected place where radioactive material from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster has accumulated—in sands and brackish groundwater beneath beaches up to 60 miles away. The sands took up and retained radioactive cesium originating from the disaster in 2011 and have been slowly releasing it back to the ocean. "No one is either exposed to, or drinks, these waters, and thus public health is not of primary concern here," the scientists said in a study published October 2 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But "this new and unanticipated pathway for the storage and release of radionuclides to the [ocean](https://phys.org/tags/ocean/) should be taken into account in the management of coastal areas where [nuclear power plants](https://phys.org/tags/nuclear+power+plants/) are situated." The research team—Virginie Sanial, Ken Buesseler, and Matthew Charette of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Seiya Nagao of Kanazawa University—hypothesize that high levels of [radioactive cesium](https://phys.org/tags/radioactive+cesium/)\-137 released in 2011 were transported along the coast by ocean currents. Days and weeks after the accident, waves and tides brought the cesium in these highly contaminated waters onto the coast, where cesium became "stuck" to the surfaces of sand grains. Cesium-enriched sand resided on the beaches and in the brackish, slightly salty mixture of fresh [water](https://phys.org/tags/water/) and [salt water](https://phys.org/tags/salt+water/) beneath the beaches. But in salt water, cesium no longer "sticks" to the sand. So when more recent waves and tides brought in salty seawater from the ocean, the brackish water underneath the beaches became salty enough to release the cesium from the sand, and it was carried back into the ocean. "No one expected that the highest levels of cesium in ocean water today would be found not in the harbor of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, but in the groundwater many miles away below the [beach](https://phys.org/tags/beach/) sands," said Sanial. The scientists estimated that the amount of contaminated water flowing into the ocean from this [brackish groundwater](https://phys.org/tags/brackish+groundwater/) source below the sandy beaches is as large as the input from two other known sources: ongoing releases and runoff from the nuclear power plant site itself, and outflow from rivers that continue to carry cesium from the fallout on land in 2011 to the ocean on river-borne particles. All three of these ongoing sources are thousands of times smaller today compared with the days immediately after the disaster in 2011. ![Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster](https://scx1.b-cdn.net/csz/news/800a/2017/30-scientistsfi.jpg) The new study revealed a previously unsuspected pathway for radioactive material to be transported, stored for years, and subsequently released far from the site where it was initially discharged. Credit: Natalie Renier, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The team sampled eight beaches within 60 miles of the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant between 2013 and 2016. They plunged 3- to 7-foot-long tubes into the sand, pumped up underlying groundwater, and analyzed its cesium-137 content. The cesium levels in the groundwater were up to 10 times higher than the levels found in seawater within the harbor of the nuclear power plant itself. In addition, the total amount of cesium retained more than 3 feet deep in the sands is higher than what is found in sediments on the seafloor offshore of the beaches. Cesium has a long half-life and persists in the environment. In their analyses of the beaches, the scientists detected not only cesium-137, which may have come from the Dai-ichi plant or from nuclear weapons tested in the 1950s and1960s, but also cesium-134, a radioactive form of cesium that can only come only from the 2011 Fukushima accident. The researchers also conducted experiments on Japanese beach samples in the lab to demonstrate that cesium did indeed "stick" to [sand](https://phys.org/tags/sand/) grains and then lost their "stickiness" when they were flushed with salt water. "It is as if the sands acted as a 'sponge' that was contaminated in 2011 and is only slowly being depleted," said Buesseler. "Only time will slowly remove the [cesium](https://phys.org/tags/cesium/) from the sands as it naturally decays away and is washed out by seawater," said Sanial. "There are 440 operational nuclear reactors in the world, with approximately one-half situated along the coastline," the study's authors wrote. So this previously unknown, ongoing, and persistent source of contamination to coastal oceans "needs to be considered in nuclear [power](https://phys.org/tags/power/) plant monitoring and scenarios involving future accidents." ###### Publication details Virginie Sanial el al., "Unexpected source of Fukushima-derived radiocesium to the coastal ocean of Japan," PNAS (2017). [www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1708659114](http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1708659114) Citation: Scientists find new source of radioactivity from Fukushima disaster (2017, October 2) retrieved 6 April 2026 from https://phys.org/news/2017-10-scientists-source-radioactivity-fukushima-disaster.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
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