Radiation exposure to Marine biota around the Fukushima Daiichi NPP

The dose rates for six marine organisms, pelagic fish, benthic fish, mollusks, crustaceans, macroalgae, and polychaete worms, representative in marine ecosystems, have been predicted by the equilibrium model with the measured seawater activity concentrations at three locations around the Fukushima Daiich nuclear power plant after the accident on March 11, 2011. Model prediction showed that total dose rates for the biota in the costal sea reached 4.8E4 μGy/d for pelagic fish, 3.6E6 μGy/d for crustaceans, 3.8E6 μGy/d for benthic fish, 5.2E6 μGy/d for macroalgae, 6.6E6 μGy/d for mollusks, and 8.0E6 μGy/d for polychaete worms. The predicted total dose rates remained above the UNSCEAR’s (United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effect of Atomic Radiation) benchmark level (1.0E4 μGy/d for an individual aquatic organism), for only the initial short period, which seems to be insufficiently long to bring about any detrimental effect on the marine biota at the population level. Furthermore, the total dose rates for benthic fish and crustaceans approximated using the measured activity concentration of the biota and bottom sediment was well below the benchmark level. From these results, it may be concluded that the impact of the ionizing radiation on the marine biota around the Fukushima NPP as a consequence of the accident would be insignificant.