Reactor environment during the Fukushima nuclear accident inferred from radiocaesium-bearing microparticles.

ABSTRACT: Radiocaesium-bearing microparticles (CsMPs), which are substantially silicate glass, were formed inside the damaged reactor and released to the environment by the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident in March 2011. The present study reports several valuable findings regarding their composition and structure using advanced microanalytical techniques. X-ray absorption near-edge structure of Fe L₃-absorption indicated that the oxidation state of the iron dissolved in the glass matrix of the CsMPs was originally nearly divalent, suggesting that the atmosphere in which the CsMPs were formed during the accident was considerably reductive. Another major finding is that sodium, which has not been recognised as a constituent element of CsMPs thus far, is among the major elemen

SUBMITTER: Okumura T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6987194 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature