GI1.4 Geoscience processes related to Fukushima nuclear accident |
Convener: Masatoshi Yamauchi | Co-Conveners: Andreas Stohl , Gerhard Wotawa , Michio Aoyama (deceased) |
Radioactive contamination due to massive accidental release of nuclear material from the Fukushima nuclear power plants (NPP) in 2011 has a large geophysical impact and hence is a multi-disciplinary geoscience problem involving inter-alia,
(i) Atmospheric Science (emissions, transport, pollution, ions);
(ii) Hydrology (surface water, ground water, soil-water interaction);
(iii) Oceanology;
(iv) Soil System;
(v) Forestry;
(vi) Natural Hazard (warning system, risk assessments including geophysical variability);
(vii) Measurement Technique (e.g., analyses of multipoint data); and
(vii)Ecosystem (natural removal/migration of radionuclides).
Not only as the polluting materials that are hazardous to human society, the radioactive materials are also an ideal marker in understanding dynamics in the environment.
Together with the knowledge from the past radioactive contamination events such as the Chernobyl Accident in 1986, new data from the Fukushima Accident from the most dense measurement network by the most advanced instrumentation in history will improve our knowledgebase on both the behavior of radioactive materials and its environmental contamination. These knowledges should also be used in developing improved monitoring systems including emergency time, acute sampling/measurement schemes, and remediation schemes for a future accident.
We also invite contributions of updated observations, new theoretical developments, methods or tools which could improve our predictive capabilities during eventual future nuclear emergencies. Studies evaluating existing tools at the example of past nuclear accidents and/or other data sets (e.g., tracer experiments) are welcome as well.
This session is also related to SSS8.1 (Soil pollution and remediation) and SM1.5/AS4.16(Research and Development in Nuclear Explosion Monitoring)
Public information: | Spead of the radioactive materials after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident (2011) is an multi-discipinary geoscience problem because it moves in air, water, soil, and even in plant. This session is so far the largest intenational science forum in the world on the geoscience aspect of this problem. |