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Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management Volume 7, Number 3pp. 360361 2011 SETAC

The Challenges Posed by Radiation and Radionuclide Releases to the Environment

Richard J. Wenning,*y Sabine E. Apitz,z Thomas Backhaus, Lawrence Barnthouse,k Graeme Batley,# Bryan Brooks,yy Peter M. Chapman,zz Michael Grifn, Lawrence Kapustka,kk Wayne Landis,## Kenneth M. Y. Leung,yyy Igor Linkov,zzz Thomas P Seager, Glenn Suter,kkk and Lawrence Tannenbaum### .
y Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management, ENVIRON International, San Francisco, CA, USA z SEA Environmental Decisions Ltd, Little Hadham, UK University of Gothenberg, Gothenberg, Sweden k LWB Environmental Services, Hamilton, OH, USA #CSIRO Land and Water, Sydney, Australia yy Baylor University, Waco, Texas, USA zz Golder Associates, Burnaby, BC, Canada Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA kk SLR Consulting, Calgary, AB, Canada ##Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, USA yyy The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China zzz US Army Corps of Engineers, Boston, MA, USA Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, USA kkk US Environmental Protection Agency, Oak Ridge, TN, USA ###Army Institute of Public Health, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD, USA

Invited Commentary

(Submitted 22 April 2011; Accepted 15 May 2011)

ABSTRACT
The recent accident at the Fukushima I nuclear power plant in Japan (also known as Fukushima Daiichi) captured the worlds attention and re-invigorated concerns about the safety of nuclear power technology. The Editors of Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management invited experts in the eld to describe the primary issues associated with the control and release of radioactive materials to the environment, particularly those that are of importance to the health of the human populations and the ecological systems that populate our planet. This collection of invited short commentaries aims to inform on the safety of nuclear power plants damaged by natural disasters and provide a primer on the potential environmental impacts. The intent of these invited commentaries is not to fuel the excitement and fears about the Fukushima Daiichi incident; rather, it is to collect views and comments from some of the worlds experts on the broad science and policy challenges raised by this event, and to provide high-level views on the science issues that surround this situation in order to improve our collective ability to avoid or at least minimize the consequences of future events. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2011;7:360361. 2011 SETAC Keywords: Radiation Radionuclide Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear energy

Nuclear energy has been touted as an energy source that could contribute signicantly to meeting the worlds enormous energy needs and providing a smooth transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy over the next several decades (Frost 2006). The environmental concerns and public fears spawned by a nearly 50-year scientic debate are well understood. In the preface to his book Radionuclides in the Environment, Atwood (2010) summarized the central aspects of the debate well, cautioning that it was critically important to address the signicant uncertainties regarding the environmental implications of long-lived radioactive materials for ecosystems and human health if nuclear energy is to be used to mitigate the impending global energy crisis. This opinion has been echoed by numerous scientists and engineers during the half-century long debate (Walker 1989), and has prompted considerable work to establish international safety standards (Gonzalez 2004; Jones 2005). If we can effectively
* To whom correspondence may be addressed: ieam_editor@setac.org Published online 23 May 2011 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/ieam.240

control and minimize the risks associated with nuclear energy generation processes, we can gain benets by having a relatively clean source of energy with a limited carbon footprint. Although many countries are considering the adoption of nuclear energy as a means of reducing greenhouse gases, its risks and benets must be fully analyzed and recognized as an integral part of sustainable development and management of energy resources.

THE FUKUSHIMA DAIICHI INCIDENT

The recent accident at the Fukushima I nuclear power plant in Japan has captured the worlds attention and reinvigorated concerns in the general public as well as the scientic community about the safety of nuclear power technology. Located in the Futuba District of Fukushima Prefecture, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant generated a combined power of 4.7 gigawatt (GWe), making it one of the 15 largest nuclear power stations in the world (IAEA 2011). On March 11, 2011, an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the moment magnitude scale (MW) occurred off the northeast coast of Japan, and its epicenter was approximately 172 km from the Fukushima Daiichi plant. The plants 6 light

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water reactors shut down automatically after the earthquake, but the aftershocks and tsunami that struck hours later disabled the cooling systems for the fuel in 6 reactor cores and for the pools used to store used fuel rods in 3 of the reactors. The inability to bring cooling systems back online led to releases of radioactive materials to the atmosphere and sea. The magnitude of radiation releases triggered a 20-km exclusion zone surrounding the plant, as well as concerns about the safety of food and water supplies and the health of workers at the facility and surrounding areas. The situation at the facility and the environmental and human health consequences remain uncertain at the time of this publication. On April 12, concerns about the accident elevated the Fukushima Daiichi event to a 7 rating on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale, the same level as the Chernobyl accident in 1986. A level 7 event is the highest rating on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale and is considered a major accident (IAEA 2009).

AIM OF INVITED COMMENTARIES

The aim of this collection of invited short commentaries is to provide a level of explanation and technical detail that informs on the safety of nuclear power plants damaged by natural disasters, and a primer on the potential environmental impacts. Given the enormity of the subject, the Editors of Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management invited experts in the eld to describe the primary issues associated with the control and release of radioactive materials to the environment, particularly those that are of importance to the health of the human populations and the ecological systems that populate our planet. Brief summaries of contemporary knowledge that point to generally understood principles and key studies are referenced so that interested readers can readily pursue more in-depth treatments of the topics. The intent of these invited commentaries is not to fuel the excitement and fears about the Fukushima Daiichi incident; rather, it is to collect the views and comments of some of the worlds experts on the broad science and policy challenges raised by this event, and to provide high-level views on the scientic issues that surround this situation. Our aim is to improve our collective understanding of the potential human health and environmental risks and thereby facilitate the ability to avoid or at least minimize the consequences of future events. The Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management Editorial Board and contributing authors share the opinion that it is too early to provide data analyses or interpretation of the environmental and human health consequences from this still-unfolding event.

UNDERSTANDING RADIATION AND RADIONUCLIDES IN THE ENVIRONMENT

Nuclear accident risks are invoked frequently in discussions on the acceptability of nuclear power generation (NEA 2010). These discussions are framed in the context of the 1979 Three Mile Island accident in Pennsylvania, USA, and the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl facility in the Soviet-era Ukraine; future discussions will now include the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant incident. In addition to comparisons to the accident at Chernobyl, the release of radiation and radionuclides from the earthquake-stricken reactors in northeastern Japan has been compared to the accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, which experienced a similar partial meltdown of a reactor core as a result of a malfunctioning cooling water system. The incident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant is the most serious nuclear power plant accident to occur in the Pacic Ocean basin, though not the rst accident involving the release of radioactive materials to the marine environment (IAEA 2001). The Fukushima Daiichi incident has encouraged re-examination of our knowledge about the fate and migration of radioactive materials in aquatic food chains, effects on sh and benthos, and long-term consequences for commercial shing. The accident also provides a unique opportunity to better understand the fate and effects of radionuclides in coastal marine environments, an area where scientic understanding is limited. Anthropogenic releases of radioisotopes, although perceived by the public to be a threat to the human environment, have been used by scientists for decades as global tracers to examine the interconnectedness of ecosystems and global processes. Using carefully designed and controlled eld studies, scientists have traced the transport of radioactive substances through different compartments of the global ecosystem. This has led to new insights about the hydrological cycle and biogeochemical cycles of important life-supporting elements such as carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen (Rozanski and Froehlich 1996; Santos et al. 2008).

REFERENCES
Atwood DA. 2010. Radionuclides in the environment. New York (NY): WileyBlackwell. 508 p. Frost BRT. 2006. The promise of nuclear power. Int J Nuclear Govern Econ Ecol 1:145150. Gonzalez AJ. 2004. Radiation safety standards and their application: international policies and current issues. Health Phys 87:258272. [IAEA] International Atomic Energy Agency. 2001. Inventory of accidents and losses at sea involving radioactive material. IAEA-TECDOC-1242. Vienna (AT): IAEA. [cited 2011 April 22]. Available from: http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/ publications/PDF/te_1242_prn.pdf [IAEA] International Atomic Energy Agency. 2009. INES: The international nuclear and radiological event scale users manual, 2008 Edition. Vienna (AT): IAEA. [cited 2011 April 22]. Available from: http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/ publications/PDF/INES-2009_web.pdf [IAEA] International Atomic Energy Agency. 2011. Vienna (AT): IAEA. [cited 2011 April 22]. Available from: http://www.iaea.org/ [NEA] Nuclear Energy Agency. 2010. Comparing nuclear accident risks with those from other energy sources. NEA#06861. Paris (FR): Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. [Cited 2011 April 22]. Available from: http:// www.nea.fr/ndd/reports/2010/nea6861-comparing-risks.pdf Jones CG. 2005. A review of the history of U.S. radiation protection regulations, recommendations, and standards. Health Phys 88:105124. Rozanski K, Froehlich K. 1996. Radioactivity and earth sciences: understanding the natural environment. IAEA Bull 2:915. Santos IR, Burnett WC, Godoyz JM. 2008. Radionuclides as tracers of coastal processes in Brazil: Review, synthesis and perspectives. Braz J Oceanogr 56:115131. Walker JS. 1989. The controversy over radiation safety: A historical overview. JAMA 262:664668.