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Artificial radionuclides including radiocesium (134 Cs and 137 Cs) and radiosilver (110mAg) 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 ∼3000 km2 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 10.1594/PANGAEA.928594, compiles gamma-emitting artificial radionuclide activities measured in 782 sediment samples collected from 27 to 71 locations across catchments draining ∼6450 km2 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Soil erosion leads to important environmental problems (e.g. muddy floods, reservoir sedimentation) in cultivated areas of the European loess belt. This study aimed to determine the impact of rainfall seasonality and land use change on soil erosion over the last 40 years in a 94-ha cultivated catchment of Normandy (France). To this end, scenarios representative of the different land use conditions were simulated using the STREAM expert-based erosion model. A 13 years long sequence of rainfall events was run with this model. Results showed that erosion increased dramatically after land consolidation (+168% on average). Interannual variability of erosion is important. After land consolidation, 79% of erosion was observed in summer and autumn, even though these seasons only accounted for 58% of annual rainfall kinetic energy. The bulk of erosion was hence produced by a few intense thunderstorms during this period. Thunderstorms correspond to 5% of rainfall events and to 15% of the total rainfall depth, but they generate 51% of total annual erosion after land consolidation (and up to 57% of erosion before land consolidation). Confrontation of the STREAM model outputs with the erosion rates modelled based on Cs-137 measurements suggested that soil redistribution within the catchment was very high but that sediment exports from the catchment remained limited (sediment delivery ratio between 1% and 10%). Local erosion rates derived from Cs-137 measurements showed an important and organised spatial variability, but erosion rates integrated over larger areas remained in the same order of magnitude as those simulated by the STREAM model or were slightly higher. Water erosion would hence not be the only process generating erosion within this catchment. In this context, our results show that tillage erosion cannot be neglected to calculate the sediment budget over several decades. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The devastating tsunami triggered by the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011 inundated the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) resulting in a loss of cooling and a series of explosions releasing the largest quantity of radioactive material into the atmosphere since the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Although 80% of the radionuclides from this accidental release were transported over the Pacific Ocean, 20% were deposited over Japanese coastal catchments that are subject to frequent typhoons. Among the radioisotopes released during the FDNPP accident, radiocesium ( 134 Cs and 137 Cs) is considered the most serious current and future health risk for the local population. The goal of this review is to synthesize research relevant to the transfer of FDNPP derived radiocesium from hillslopes to the Pacific Ocean. After radiocesium fallout deposition on vegetation and soils, the contamination may remain stored in forest canopies, in vegetative litter on the ground, or in the soil. Once radiocesium contacts soil, it is quickly and almost irreversibly bound to fine soil particles. The kinetic energy of raindrops instigates the displacement of soil particles, and their bound radiocesium, which may be mobilized and transported with overland flow. Soil erosion is one of the main processes transferring particle-bound radiocesium from hillslopes through rivers and streams, and ultimately to the Pacific Ocean. Accordingly this review will summarize results regarding the fundamental processes and dynamics that govern radiocesium transfer from hillslopes to the Pacific Ocean published in the literature within the first four years after the FDNPP accident. The majority of radiocesium is reported to be transported in the particulate fraction, attached to fine particles. The contribution of the dissolved fraction to radiocesium migration is only relevant in base flows and is hypothesized to decline over time. Owing to the hydro-meteorological context of the Fukushima region, the most significant transfer of particulate-bound radiocesium occurs during major rainfall and runoff events (e.g. typhoons and spring snowmelt). There may be radiocesium storage within catchments in forests, floodplains and even within hillslopes that may be remobilized and contaminate downstream areas, even areas that did not receive fallout or may have been decontaminated. Overall this review demonstrates that characterizing the different mechanisms and factors driving radiocesium transfer is important. In particular, the review determined that quantifying the remaining catchment radiocesium inventory allows for a relative comparison of radiocesium transfer research from hillslope to catchment scales. Further, owing to the variety of mechanisms and factors, a transdisciplinary approach is required involving geomorphologists, hydrologists, soil and forestry scientists, and mathematical modellers to comprehensively quantify radiocesium transfers and dynamics. Characterizing radiocesium transfers from hillslopes to the Pacific Ocean is necessary for ongoing decontamination and management interventions with the objective of reducing the gamma radiation exposure to the local population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]