A Consideration on Trade-Off Problems in Surface Soil Cleanup. H. Yasuda, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Isozaki 3609, Hitachinaka-shi, Ibaraki 311-12, Japan
When a surface soil is contaminated by hazardous materials, soil cleanup is one of the most important countermeasures to reduce health risk brought about to residents. However, there could be some trade-off problems in decision-making on cleanup methods. For example, promoting desorption of the material, which is effective to reduce external exposure dose, will lead to contamination of groundwater. This study investigate numerically what kinds of trade-offs exist and how they are interrelated, focusing on three countermeasures: desorption, fixation, and soil exchange. The pathways considered here are external exposure, drinking groundwater, and ingestion of agricultural products. It is also discussed how to minimize the radiological health risk for a surface soil contaminated by cesium-137, with a cost-benefit consideration.