Variations in Map Products Demonstrated During the FRMAC Fukushima

Variations in Map Products Demonstrated During the FRMAC Fukushima Daiichi Response

April 24, 2012

National Radiation Emergency Preparedness Conference

Presented By Dr. Wendy J Pemberton

Senior Scientist, Consequence Management Contractor to the U.S. Department of Energy

NNSA Office of Emergency Response

DOE/NV/25946--1466

This work was done by National Security Technologies, LLC, under Contract No. DE-AC52-06NA25946 with the U.S. Department of Energy.

Outline

• Brief summary of the Fukushima Daiichi • Discussion on map uses and production • Early phase maps • Intermediate phase maps • Late phase maps • Summary

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Japanese Earthquake/Tsunami

3 Source: Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA)

• Occurred: 14:46 March 11, 2011 • Magnitude: 9.0 • Tsunami greater than 14 m reached

Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP)

Unit 3 Unit 4

DOE Timeline

Customers/Partners United States • Department of State

– American Embassy

• Department of Defense – U.S. Forces Japan (USFJ)

• White House • Nuclear Regulatory

Commission • Advisory Team for

Environment , Food, and Health (EPA, CDC/HHS, USDA)

Japan • Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) • Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) • Ministry of Defense (MOD) • Ministry of Economy, Trade and

Industry (METI) – Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency

(NISA) • Ministry of Education, Culture,

Sports, Science & Technology (MEXT)

– Nuclear Safety Technology Center (NUSTEC)

• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF)

• Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MLHW)

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Brainstorm: Uses for Maps • Why would you want a map?

– Public safety – Worker protection – Situational awareness – Others?

• How long would it take to be able to make that map? – More detail = more time – Trade off between perfect products and FAST products

• What do we need to make the map? – To create a specific product, there is certain information that

must be available first • We cannot create a map reflecting flights over a certain city in Japan if

the Aerial Measuring System (AMS) team has not flown over it yet

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Early Phase Maps • Early phase products spanned the first 7–14 days of the response

– Multiple releases continued to change the conditions • Product types:

– Multiple customers required many iterations of products • Questions were different between customers

– U.S. at White House wanted to know about overall safety using EPA guidance – U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) also needed considerations to guidelines set for dependants

using Pacific Command (PACOM) guidance – The Government of Japan (GOJ) wanted to characterize the contamination, but did not need

guidance based on U.S. limits » They used a combination of scientific guidance including the International Atomic Energy

Agency (IAEA) amongst others

• Questions asked: – Are people safe?

• Do they need to evacuate, move, shelter, take KI, etc? • Will the contamination reach the U.S.?

– Where is the contamination? • How long to make a product:

– Given the urgency of the questions, products were requested to be completed before the data was even collected

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Early Phase Maps

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• Situational Awareness • Gaining an

understanding of the layout of: • The disaster

area • U.S. facilities • The deployed

team

Buffer areas established by Japan authorities

Early Phase Maps

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• Situational Awareness • Deployed team • Fukushima

Daiichi • Japan’s location

in the Pacific

Early Phase Maps

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• Flight Products • Details from

AMS flights were in high demand

• Rapid turn-around product • Flight Path

Early Phase Maps

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• Flight Products • Details from AMS flights

were in high demand • Product took a few hours

after landing • Complications in

analysis • Plume Phase • Guidance needs

• DOD • EPA

Breakpoints correspond to different guidance levels

Early Phase Maps

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• First days • Maps set up

using previously designed templates

• Many aesthetic features evolved over time

• DOE HQ products specified data sets

Breakpoints correspond to different EPA guidance levels

Early Phase Maps

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Breakpoints correspond to different EPA and DOD PACOM guidance levels

• AMS Flight Product • Focus varied based on the

customer • DOD customer on this map • Guidance was a

combination of types, given the variety of Americans in Japan during the disaster

• Map elements of note • Nautical miles • Four buffer rings (instead of

two) • Request of DOD

customer • Legend embedded in the

map • Also created individual maps

for each U.S. facility

Early Phase Maps

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Breakpoints correspond to different US EPA and DOD PACOM guidance levels

• Monitoring Results

Product • Focus varied based on the

customer • DOD customer on this map • Guidance was a

combination of types, given the variety of Americans in Japan during the disaster

• Map elements of note • Nautical miles • Four buffer rings (instead

of two) • Request of DOD

customer • Legend embedded in the

map

Intermediate Phase Maps

• Intermediate phase products spanned the next 2–3 months of the response – Conditions had stabilized, and characterization of the contaminated area could

be performed • Product types:

– Continued to serve multiple customers with different guidance and questions • Began to develop a method for quickly producing the desired regular release products for

each customer • Questions asked:

– Are people safe? • Were the initial decisions appropriate? • Do any changes need to be made? • Can the DOD no-fly region be modified or lifted? • Is it safe for U.S. citizens traveling in Japan to ride the bullet train? • Is the food safe?

• How long to make a product: – Products were given slightly longer for creation after the initial disaster phase

ended; however, products were still requested with rapid turn-around times • Several days given instead of several hours

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Intermediate Phase Maps

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• Flights continued daily • Area was

further characterized by AMS data

• Decay is readily apparent in the plots

• Breakpoints established using action levels for customer

Intermediate Phase Maps

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• Interest shifted to evaluating conditions to confirm “no change” • Both DOE HQ as well as

DOD and Embassy customers were interested in this data

• Began providing Trend plots • Combined exposure rate

readings from several monitoring stations into trend plots • Allowed customers to

see that no new “spikes” in exposure rate had occurred • Further confirmed

no new releases

Intermediate Phase Maps

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• Multiple versions of the same product were created for various aesthetic needs • DOD product:

• Sieverts, additional buffer ring , warm zone, hot zone, sample types (air versus exposure rate) • DOE HQ product:

• Rem only, data source

DOD Product DOE HQ Product

Intermediate phase Maps

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• Product created for travel advisories to be sent out for U.S. citizens traveling in Japan

• Determination of potential doses for riding the bullet train through the 80 km zone

Intermediate Phase Maps

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• Product created for scientists reviewing gamma spectroscopy data • Many in-situ gamma

spectroscopy samples were collected • It was helpful for

scientists to be able to review the information graphically to determine areas of interest

• Google Earth KML files were also created

Intermediate Phase Maps

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Unit 2

• The close of the intermediate phase is identified with the point in time when the contaminated area has been thoroughly explored • There was additional work to be executed for

long-term recovery, which includes many environmental samples that scientists in Japan continue to collect today

• This product was created by GOJ and U.S. scientists working together

• The entire 80 km zone was flown over the course of approximately 2 months • Flights were combined into a single map

product to create a graphic representation of the contamination on the ground in those regions

Late Phase Maps • Late phase products began after DOE responders returned

home in May and continue today – The area was well characterized

• Product types: – While multiple customers still existed, the focus shifted to policy

and for general scientific knowledge • Questions asked:

– What type of dose was estimated for the people within the 80 km zone of the plant?

– How far away from the site was plutonium and strontium found in the soil?

• Was this “new” or “old” material? • How long to make a product:

– The urgency was replaced with desire for high-quality products • Up to several weeks was allowed on more complicated problems

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Late Phase Maps

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• Request was to gain an understanding of the dose that the population in Japan may have received • Dose assessed by

total person rem as a function of distance from the NPP

• Data was a combination of U.S. and GOJ aerial flights

• Dose calculations included ground shine and inhalation of re-suspended material

• Maps were also requested to reflect the difference in dose that sheltering may have provided

Late Phase Maps

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• Product created to indicate the locations of newly deposited strontium • Distributed with an accompanying

report to also discuss potential health impacts

• Information was obtained from publicly available soil sample data (published on the MEXT website)

• The determination of newly deposited strontium was made by noting the presence of Sr-89 in any samples because Sr-89 has a relatively short half life of 50.5 days • Any samples with only Sr-90 (and

no Sr-89) were recorded as historic deposition

Late Phase Maps

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• Product created to indicate the locations of newly deposited plutonium • Distributed with an accompanying report

to also discuss methods of analysis and fuel melt evidence

• Information was obtained from publicly available soil sample data (published on the MEXT website)

• The origin of the plutonium was determined by observing the ratio of Pu-238/Pu-239+240 • Historic ratios are expected to be

different than the ratios from the recent disaster primarily due to the source of the materials • Nuclear power plant (0.026)

versus nuclear weapons (0.5) • The newly deposited plutonium has been

determined to exist in extremely trace quantities in samples collected up to a distance of 195 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi NPP • Detection limits of the labs that

published the data is unknown

Conclusions

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• During the DOE response to the Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident, many products were made • A wide range of customers supported with various questions and aesthetic needs:

• DOE HQ • DOD • GOJ • Many others

• Depending on the phase of the response • Questions varied:

• Early: Are people safe? • Intermediate: Do the previously made decisions need to be altered? • Late: Can we dig deeper into the science?

• Deliverable timelines varied: • Early: We need it now. • Intermediate: A few days for delivery was acceptable for higher quality. • Late: One to several weeks was allowed for evaluation of complicated questions.

• Products, as appropriate, were created to meet the needs of all customers with similar or the same underlying data set

Questions

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