scholarly journals Reputational Damage in Radiation Disasters 10 years after the Accident at TEPCO's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

2021 ◽  
pp. 014664532110208
Author(s):  
Naoya Sekiya

This paper does not necessarily reflect the views of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. Ten years have passed since the accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, and radioactive substances contained in agricultural products and marine products are now below detectable levels. Amidst this, the testing stance is changing from one that guarantees safety to one that guarantees relief, and testing is being reduced for financial reasons. Moreover, the sense of resistance and concern towards food products produced in Fukushima Prefecture is reducing. Anxiety has been reducing along with the development of the inspection system, the inspection results, and the passage of time. However, although there have been fewer requests, demands, and claims to avoid products from Fukushima Prefecture since immediately after the accident, there is a tendency for consumer trends to be forcefully ‘surmised'. As a result, the problem of reputational damage, such as the fact that the market ranking of rice and beef has not recovered, remains an issue.

2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. 119-122
Author(s):  
T. Hanzawa

‘Yes I tried to explain, but residents couldn’t understand …’ This was the title of my presentation at the first International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) dialogue seminar in November 2011 held at the Fukushima Prefectural Government office. The accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was triggered by the tsunami caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011. Initially, it was thought that Date city, 50–60 km away from the accident, would be safe, but unfortunately this was not the case due to the direction of the wind at the time of the accident. I reported on decontamination in the aftermath of the accident at the ICRP dialogue seminar, following an invitation from Dr. Niwa of the University of Kyoto and a member of ICRP. There were many participants from overseas, and it was the first time that I had attended a meeting with simultaneous interpretation. I still remember that I was slightly bewildered.


2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 214-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.A. Cool

Committee 4 of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) is charged with the development of principles and recommendations on radiological protection of people and the environment in all exposure situations. For the term beginning in July 2017, the Committee has a total of 18 members from 12 countries. The programme of work includes a wide range of activities in five major thematic areas. The first is the consolidation and preparation of reports elaborating application of the system of protection in existing exposure situations. Second is the continuation of work on emergency exposure situations, and ICRP updates to recommendations in light of the accident at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Third is examination of fundamentals of protection recommendations, including the ethical principles underlying the recommendations and application of those principles in practical decision making. Fourth is the new area of integration of protection of the environment into the system of protection. Finally, Committee 4 continues work to prepare specific topical reports on subjects in which additional information is useful to understand and apply the Commission’s recommendations in particular circumstances.


2021 ◽  
pp. 014664532110153
Author(s):  
Hajimu Yamana

This paper does not necessarily reflect the views of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. This article describes the institutional structure established for decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. To deal with the aftermath of the unprecedented nuclear accident in Fukushima, several responsible institutions such as Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) have worked together at the initiative of the Government of Japan. In this structure, Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) implements the decommissioning due to its legal responsibility, while the essential direction and milestones are set by the Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters of the Government of Japan. Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation, a government-affiliated organisation, oversees and facilitates the decommissioning by TEPCO, and the Nuclear Regulatory Authority regulates safety from an independent standpoint. The main basic elements essential for the success of this long-term project have been developed, such as the technical strategy, financial system, and organisational capability. Decommissioning is making progress.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 7796
Author(s):  
Hao Xu ◽  
Ren Komatsu ◽  
Hanwool Woo ◽  
Atsushi Yamashita ◽  
Hajime Asama

In this study, a new method of estimating the leakage positions of cooling water using a stereo camera for the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) is proposed. A stereo camera mounted on an inspection system with a rotating base was inserted into the pedestal below the reactor pressure vessel (RPV), and the waterdrops from the leakage position were captured using a stereo camera. We estimated the leakage positions by triangulating the waterdrop trajectory lines in the stereo image. The main contribution of this study is the extraction and matching of the waterdrop trajectories in a stereo image in the FDNPP. The radiation noise is intense inside the pedestal because of the presence of fuel debris. Therefore, we propose a method that is robust against radiation noise. We assume that the waterdrops drip vertically in indoor environments without wind, such as in the FDNPP. Hence, the orientation of the stereo camera can be adjusted by the rotating base such that the vertical lines in the three-dimensional space are also projected as vertical lines in the image planes. Thereafter, the columns of pixels in the images are treated as image features and used to extract and match the waterdrop trajectories. We demonstrated the effectiveness of our leakage position estimation method in a simulated environment of the FDNPP with gamma-ray image noise.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Schneider ◽  
J. Lochard ◽  
M. Maître ◽  
N. Ban ◽  
P. Croüail ◽  
...  

Lessons from the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant accident emphasize the difficulties for restoring the socio-economic activities in the affected areas. Among them, a series of radioligical protection challenges were noted, in particular concerning the protection of employees, the securing of the production and the guarantee provided to consumers of the radiological monitoring of products to restore their confidence. Based on case studies reporting the experience of employers deploying their activities in affected areas, an analysis of these radiological protection challenges has been performed. Characterizing the radiological situation was not always straightforward for the managers. With the help of radiological protection experts, protective actions have been identified and specific efforts have been devoted to provide information to employees and their families helping them to make their own judgement about the radiological situation. Respecting the decisions of employees and developing a radiological protection culture among them have proved to be efficient for restoring the business activities. Continuing or restoring the production not always manageable. It requires to develop dedicated radiological monitoring processes to ensure the radiological protection of workers and the quality of the production. Re-establishing the link with the consumers and organising the vigilance on the long-term were necessary for companies to maintain their production or develop new ones. Deploying a socio-economic programme for ensuring the community resilience in affected areas requires the adoption of governance mechanisms respecting ethical values to ensure the overall objective of protecting people and the environment against the risks of ionizing radiation and contributing to provide decent living and working conditions to the affected communities. It is of primary importance to rely on the involvement of local communities in the elaboration and deployment of the socio-economic activities with due considerations for ensuring the integrity of the communities, and respecting their choices.


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