Development of an emergency assessment system of the marine environmental radioactivity around Japan and its utilization

Kobayashi, Takuya ; Kawamura, Hideyuki  ; Fujii, Katsuji*; Kamidaira, Yuki   

The Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Station (FNPS1) accident in Japan in March 2011 led to the release of large amounts of radionuclides into the atmosphere as well as direct discharges into the ocean. Various environmental assessments have been performed by many research groups using marine dispersion simulations after the FNPS1 accident. It was recognized from these woks that the risk of radionuclide release from nuclear facilities to the environment was very high and the establishment of emergency ocean dispersion forecasting systems was necessary. Then, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has developed the Short-Term Emergency Assessment system of Marine Environmental Radioactivity (STEAMER) to immediately predict the radionuclide migration for a nuclear accident in ocean around Japan, by integrating previous study results. In this study, structure, performance test results, and utilization of the system are described.