The determination of Fukushima-derived cesium-134 and cesium-137 in Japanese green tea samples and their distribution subsequent to simulated beverage preparation.

Health Canada's Radiation Protection Bureau has identified trace quantities of (134)Cs and (137)Cs in commercially available green tea products of Japanese origin. Referenced to March 11, 2011, the activity ratio ((134)Cs/(137)Cs) has been determined to be 1:1, which supports an origin from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. The upper limits of typical tea beverage preparation conditions were applied to the most contaminated of these green tea samples to determine the proportion of radiocesium contamination that would be available for human consumption. The distribution of radiocesium among the components of the extraction experiments (water, residual tea solid, and filter media) was determined by both conventional and Compton-suppressed gamma spectroscopy. The latter aided tremendously in providing a more complete radiocesium distribution profile, particularly for the shorter-lived (134)Cs. Cesium extraction efficiencies of 64 ± 7% and 64 ± 5% were determined based on (134)Cs and (137)Cs, respectively. Annual, effective dose estimates from ingestion of (137)Cs and (134)Cs (1.8-3.7 µSv), arising from the consumption of tea beverages prepared from the most contaminated of these samples, are insignificant relative to both total (∼ 2.4 mSv) and ingested (∼ 0.28 mSv) annual effective doses received from naturally occurring radioactive sources. As such, there is no health concern arising from the consumption of green tea beverages contaminated with radiocesium at the levels encountered in this study.

A gamma-gamma coincidence/anticoincidence spectrometer for low-level cosmogenic (22)Na/(7)Be activity ratio measurement.

In this study, a digital gamma-gamma coincidence/anticoincidence spectrometer was developed and examined for low-level cosmogenic (22)Na and (7)Be in air-filter sample monitoring. The spectrometer consists of two bismuth germanate scintillators (BGO) and an XIA LLC Digital Gamma Finder (DGF)/Pixie-4 software and card package. The spectrometer design allows a more selective measurement of (22)Na with a significant background reduction by gamma-gamma coincidence events processing. Hence, the system provides a more sensitive way to quantify trace amounts of (22)Na than normal high resolution gamma spectrometry providing a critical limit of 3 mBq within a 20 h count. The use of a list-mode data acquisition technique enabled simultaneous determination of (22)Na and (7)Be activity concentrations using a single measurement by coincidence and anticoincidence mode respectively.