STUDY ON REMOVAL METHOD OF CESIUM FROM SLOPE SOIL USING SIMPLE SLUSHER

Though 6 years passed since the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, and the decontamination of the difficult-to-return zone is not in prospect. The reason why the decontamination has not carried on is that of the geographic factor around the zone. In particular, there is a lot of forest area around the zone. Since the accident, radioactive cesium has been accumulated by constant wind and rainfall. Therefore, it is necessary to decontaminate the slope as it is the supply source of radioactive cesium from the forest to the residential area or farmland. Thus, in this study, the simple method of using running water was proposed to solve the decontamination of the forest area. This method proves that the vermiculite strongly fixes the radioactive cesium and the decontamination site is a slope. As a result, it is confirmed that the removal of vermiculites reduces 20% of the volume of contaminated soil. The vermiculite is easy to remove from the water since it is lighter in weight than sand and water. Removal of vermiculite using this method leads to volume reduction of the contaminated soil.