TY - JOUR PY - 2015// TI - Discovery of radioactive silver ((110m)Ag) in spiders and other fauna in the terrestrial environment after the meltdown of Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant JO - Proceedings of the Japan Academy, series B, physical and biological sciences A1 - Nakanishi, Hiromi A1 - Mori, Atsushi A1 - Takeda, Kouki A1 - Tanaka, Houdo A1 - Kobayashi, Natsuko A1 - Tanoi, Keitaro A1 - Yamakawa, Takashi A1 - Mori, Satoshi SP - 160 EP - 174 VL - 91 IS - 4 N2 - Six months after the explosion of TEPCO's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, radioactive silver ((110m)Ag), was detected in concentrations of 3754 Bq/kg in Nephila clavata (the orb-web spider; Joro-gumo in Japanese) collected at Nimaibashi, Iitate village in Fukushima Prefecture, whereas (110m)Ag in the soil was 43.1 Bq/kg. A survey of 35 faunal species in the terrestrial environment during the 3.5 years after the accident showed that most of Anthropoda had two orders higher (110m)Ag in their tissues than soils, although silver is not an essential element for their life. However, tracing of the activity of (110m)Ag detected in spider Atypus karschi collected regularly at a fixed location showed that it declined much faster than the physical half-life. These results suggest that (110m)Ag was at once biologically concentrated by faunal species, especially Arthropoda, through food chain. The factors affecting the subsequent rapid decline of (110m)Ag concentration in faunal species are discussed.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0386-2208 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.2183/pjab.91.160 ID - ref1 ER -