Radioactive contamination of towels with the soil containing radioactive cesium and its removal by washing

After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident, many people are concerned about the contamination of radioactive substances in their ordinary surrounding environment. In this study, we determined the levels of radioactive contamination with 137Cs in towels, very common textile products in our life, after exposing those to the soil collected from a farm field near Fukushima city. Three kinds of towels made from the same cotton fiber with different thickness were exposed to the soil under dry or water-suspension conditions. The radioactivities of 137Cs retained/absorbed were 30-50% of the loaded radioactivity per gram weight of the towel. When their weight and absorbency are taken into consideration, the differences in thickness did not so much affect the above values. Under standard washing condition, which mimic those with household washing machine, almost all the radioactive cesium were removed from the towels contaminated under the dry conditions, whereas only 50-70% were removed when the towels were contaminated under the wet conditions. A commercial soil-release treatment (Preshade-SR) didn't reduce the contamination under both dry and wet conditions, although precessing the towels with silver nano-particles did. (author)