• 방사성폐기물학회지
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• 제21권1호
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• pp.95-114
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• 2023

During the decades after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) accident, ambient dose rates have markedly decreased when compared to those at the early state of the accident. Government projects have been continuously conducted by surveying the ambient dose rate and radiocesium distributions. Airborne surveys using crewed helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are the best methods for obtaining an overall picture of the distribution. However, ground-based surveys are required for accurate measurements near the population. The differences between these methods include the knowledge of the post depositional behavior of radionuclides in land use. The survey results form the basis for policy decisions such as lifting evacuation zones, decontamination, and other countermeasures. These surveys contain crucial findings regarding post-accident responses. This paper reviews the survey methods of government projects and current situation around the FDNPS. The visualization methods and databases of ambient dose rates are also reviewed to provide information to the population.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제46권2호
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• pp.66-79
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• 2021

Background: The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is specified in the Disaster Counter-measures Basic Act as a designated public corporation for dealing with nuclear disasters. Materials and Methods: The Nuclear Emergency Assistance and Training Center (NEAT) was established in 2002 as the activity base providing technical assistance to both national and local governments during nuclear emergencies. The NEAT has a robust structure and utilities and special installations, and it organizes training and exercises. Results and Discussion: Due to an offshore earthquake that caused a devastating tsunami in March 2011, a nuclear accident occurred at the Tokyo Electric Power Company's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. The NEAT responded by conducting off-site environmental radiation monitoring and contamination screening, dispatching special vehicles, offering telephone consultations, and calculating the dispersion of radioactive materials. An examination of the emergency response activities revealed that the organization was prepared for these types of disasters and was able to plan long-term response. Conclusion: As a designated public corporation, the JAEA technically supports the national government, the Fukushima prefectural government, and the Ibaraki prefectural government, all of which responded to the off-site emergencies resulting from the March 2011 Fukushima Daiichi accident

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제47권1호
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• pp.1-10
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• 2015

After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (NPP) accident, new regulatory requirements were enforced in July 2013 and a backfit was required for all existing nuclear power plants. It is required to take measures to prevent severe accidents and mitigate their radiological consequences. The Regulatory Standard and Research Department, Secretariat of Nuclear Regulation Authority (S/NRA/R) has been conducting numerical studies and experimental studies on relevant severe accident phenomena and countermeasures. This article highlights fission product (FP) release and hydrogen risk as two major areas. Relevant activities in the S/NRA/R are briefly introduced, as follows: 1. For FP release: Identifying the source terms and leak mechanisms is a key issue from the viewpoint of understanding the progression of accident phenomena and planning effective countermeasures that take into account vulnerabilities of containment under severe accident conditions. To resolve these issues, the activities focus on wet well venting, pool scrubbing, iodine chemistry (in-vessel and ex-vessel), containment failure mode, and treatment of radioactive liquid effluent. 2. For hydrogen risk: because of three incidents of hydrogen explosion in reactor buildings, a comprehensive reinforcement of the hydrogen risk management has been a high priority topic. Therefore, the activities in evaluation methods focus on hydrogen generation, hydrogen distribution, and hydrogen combustion.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제49권2호
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• pp.442-449
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• 2017

Risk management of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station decommissioning is a great challenge. In the present study, a risk management framework has been developed for the decommissioning work. It is applied to fuel assembly retrieval from Unit 3 spent fuel pool. Whole retrieval work is divided into three phases: preparation, retrieval, and transportation and storage. First of all, the end point has been established and the success path has been developed. Then, possible threats, which are internal/external and technical/societal/management, are identified and selected. "What can go wrong?" is a question about the failure scenario. The likelihoods and consequences for each scenario are roughly estimated. The whole decommissioning project will continue for several decades, i.e., long-term perspective is important. What should be emphasized is that we do not always have enough knowledge and experience of this kind. It is expected that the decommissioning can make steady and good progress in support of the proposed risk management framework. Thus, risk assessment and management are required, and the process needs to be updated in accordance with the most recent information and knowledge on the decommissioning works.

• 한국식품영양학회지
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• 제28권2호
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• pp.202-218
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• 2015

Many countries have introduced new imported food safety measures, following the accident at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. This study was conducted to evaluate the measures contents and effects on food trades values. Eight percent of members were notified the introduced measures to the World Trade Organization. The measures' contents were banning imports, enhancing inspection and adding certification requirement. The covered regions were some prefectures, entire Japan or all affected countries. European Union introduced a measure that subjecting foods originating from 12 prefectures to import at designated ports with required certification. The measures were amended 8 times until March 2014 to apply listed foods from 15 prefectures. The trade value of fishery products and miscellaneous foods were affected. Australia introduced a measure that required additional inspection of dairy, fishery and plants products from 13 prefectures with subsequent amendments. The trade value had no effect in tested foods. Chinese Taipei introduced a temporary import ban for all foods from 6 prefectures. Trade values for fruits were affected. The United States issued an import alert for detention without examination for listed prefectures and goods without introducing new measures. Although no specific products were affected, trade values for all foods were affected.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• 제47권2호
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• pp.77-85
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• 2022

Background: After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) accident, a model was developed to estimate the external exposure doses for residents who were expected to return to their homes after evacuation orders were lifted. However, the model's accuracy and uncertainties in parameters used to estimate external doses have not been evaluated. Materials and Methods: The model estimates effective doses based on the integrated ambient dose equivalent (H^*(10)) and life patterns, considering a dose reduction factor to estimate the indoor H^*(10) and a conversion factor from H^*(10) to the effective dose. Because personal dose equivalent (H_p(10)) has been reported to agree well with the effective dose after the FDNPS accident, this study validates the model's accuracy by comparing the estimated effective doses with H_p(10). The H_p(10) and life pattern data were collected for 36 adult participants who lived or worked near the FDNPS in 2019. Results and Discussion: The estimated effective doses correlated significantly with H_p(10); however, the estimated effective doses were lower than H_p(10) for indoor sites. A comparison with the measured indoor H^*(10) showed that the estimated indoor H^*(10) was not underestimated. However, the H_p(10) to H^*(10) ratio indoors, which corresponds to the practical conversion factor from H^*(10) to the effective dose, was significantly larger than the same ratio outdoors, meaning that the conversion factor of 0.6 is not appropriate for indoors due to the changes in irradiation geometry and gamma spectra. This could have led to a lower effective dose than H_p(10). Conclusion: The estimated effective doses correlated significantly with H_p(10), demonstrating the model's applicability for effective dose estimation. However, the lower value of the effective dose indoors could be because the conversion factor did not reflect the actual environment.

• 신재생에너지
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• 제7권4호
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• pp.37-41
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• 2011

This paper presents a Combined solar-wave Power Generation (CPG) concept that the CPG unit is maintained as buoyant at the level of sea water and it is also supported by a submerged tunnel, with the aim of supplying emergency electric power during the station blackout events of nuclear power plants. The CPG concept has been motivated from the 2011 Fukushima-Daiichi Accidents due to the loss of both offsite AC power and emergency diesel power caused by natural hazards such as earthquake and tsunami. The CPG is conceptualized by applying different types and different sites for emergency power generation, in order to reduce common cause failures of emergency power suppliers due to natural hazards. Thus, the CPG can provide a new mean for supplying emergency electric power during station blackout events of nuclear power plants. For this application, the CPG requirements are described with a typical configuration at the ocean side of a submerged tunnel.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제47권2호
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• pp.157-164
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• 2015

Nuclear power plants have logical loop structures in their system configuration. This paper explains the method to solve a loop structure in reliability analysis. As examples of loop structured systems, the reactor core isolation cooling system and high-pressure core injection system of a boiling water reactor are considered and analyzed under a station blackout accident condition. The analysis results show the important role of loop structures under severe accidents. For the evaluation of the safety of nuclear power plants, it is necessary to accurately evaluate a loop structure's reliability.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권2호
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• pp.376-385
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• 2021

Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) has improved its elemental technologies used for assessing external events since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Accident in 2011. HRA needs to be improved for analyzing tasks performed under extreme conditions (e.g., different actors responding to external events or performing operations using portable mitigation equipment). To make these improvements, it is essential to understand plant-specific and scenario-specific conditions that affect human performance. The Nuclear Risk Research Center (NRRC) of the Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI) has developed an HRA guide that compiles qualitative analysis methods for collecting plant-specific and scenario-specific conditions that affect human performance into "narratives," reflecting the latest research trends, and models for analysis of tasks under extreme conditions.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• 제53권9호
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• pp.2859-2865
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• 2021

One of the important issues raised from the Fukushima-Daiichi accident is the safety of multi-unit sites when simultaneous accidents occur at the site and recently a multi-unit PSA methodology is being developed worldwide. Since all operation modes of the plant should be considered in the multi-unit PSA, the accident analysis needs to be performed for shutdown operation modes, too. In this study, a station blackout during the mid-loop operation is selected as a reference scenario. The overall accident progression for the mid-loop operation is slower than that for the full-power operation because the residual heat per mass of coolant is about 6 times lower than that in the mid-loop scenario. Though the fractions of Cs released from the core to the RCS in both operation modes are almost the same, the amount of Cs delivered to the containment atmosphere is quite different due to the chemisorption in the RCS. While 45.5% of the initial inventory is chemisorbed on the RCS surfaces during the full-power operation, only 2.2% during the mid-loop operation. The containment remains intact during the mid-loop operation, though 83.9% of Cs is delivered to the containment.