Airborne radiation monitoring using a manned helicopter

Sanada, Yukihisa   ; Ishizaki, Azusa  ; Nishizawa, Yukiyasu; Urabe, Yoshimi*

The Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on 11 March 2011 generated a series of large tsunami waves that caused serious damage to the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station, following which a large amount of radioactive material was discharged from the nuclear power plant into the environment. The airborne radiation measurement using a manned helicopter was applied to measure the radiation distribution immediately after accident of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station as technique to quickly measure the radiation distribution in the wide area. In Japan, this technique was researched and developed in the 1980s. However, this technique and system were not applied immediately after the accident because standardization of analysis was not established and the Japanese system became deteriorated. This technique is important for post-accident of nuclear facility. We summarized the methods of the airborne radiation measurement using a manned helicopter. In addition, measurement results of dose rate distribution at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station was shown in this paper.