Development of emergency information clearinghouse for nuclear emergency management

Watanabe, Fumitaka ; Yamamoto, Kazuya ; Sajiki, Kenjiro; Yasu, Sadanori*; Igarashi, Miyuki*

The larger the scale of an accident, the more closely cooperation is needed between concerned parties for appropriate and timely response, especially if they are located apart from each other. The past nuclear accidents revealed that they failed to share important information with each other and such a situation caused unnecessary confusion in public information. Based on lessons learned from accidents, JAEA developed the Emergency Information Clearinghouse (ECHO). Information is fed into a secured server from each PC. Unified information on the server can be chronologically listed through a web browser. This web-based system enables separately located parties to share proper information in a timely manner and minimize the load of managing a great deal of information. The ECHO has been in operation 24/7 on a network for nuclear emergency response and connects nationwide 22 off-site centers, and several authorities concerned. The system has been used during for training and drills.