What We Know Now About Fukushima Dai-ichi NPPs Accident and Impacts

In response to the events at the Fukushima nuclear reactors, the NRC established an agency task force comprised of NRC senior managers and experts to examine all the available information from Japan to understanding the event’s implications for United States. The task force will perform a systematic review to determine if any changes should be made to the NRC regulatory programs and regulations. The presentation will discuss the NRC task force’s short-and-long term analysis of the lessons that can be learned from the situation in Japan.

Abstract for Mike Boyd’s talk on the OAS Fukushima Panel, Aug. 24, 2011
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was the principal federal agency monitoring and assessing the impact of the Fukushima Daiichi releases domestically, including for U.S. territories and possessions. Following the release of radioactivity from the Fukushima reactors, EPA stepped up monitoring activities at its fixed RadNet stations around the U.S., including increased frequency of milk and drinking water sampling and per event sampling for precipitation. The Agency also began sending deployable monitors to Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, and Saipan. Within a few days of the Fukushima incident, EPA was able to detect the primary radionuclides released to the atmosphere from Japan including iodine-131 and cesium-137. Once the RadNet data received appropriate quality checks, the data were made available to the public on EPA’s website along with appropriately reassuring public health messages. Extensive efforts went into presenting these data in visually and graphically meaningful formats. Lessons learned from this event will help us continue to improve the performance of RadNet in any future nuclear incident.