Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident and Nuclear Physicists

Takaharu Otsuka

doi:10.1051/epjconf/20146610008

Abstract

I give an overview on the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant Accident and a report on voluntary activities of Japanese nuclear physicists in this terrible event, including their major outcome.

Highlights

1 Introduction I report, in this talk, some of the activities carried out by Japanese nuclear physicists in response to Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident caused by the big earthquake on March 11, 2011
There were many activities conducted by volunteers from the nuclear physics community in Japan, I would like to focus on the monitoring of radioactivity from human beings and the survey of soil contamination by fallen radioactive materials
I shall stop the description of the accident here, I point out that there was no explosion of the reactor itself, in contrast to Chernobyl, and the radioactive materials leaked from damaged fuel rods into the water inside the reactor, and tiny particles carrying them went outside with the air flow

Summary

Introduction

I report, in this talk, some of the activities carried out by Japanese nuclear physicists in response to Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident caused by the big earthquake on March 11, 2011. Let me start with a brief summary of what happened

The earthquake and Tsunami

Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant

Radioactive materials from the Fukushima nuclear accident

Voluntary actions by nuclear physicist

Soil contamination maps of Fukushima area

Summary