Reflections on 10 years of Fukushima

Nakayama, Shinichi 

Over the last decade since the 2011 nuclear accident in Fukushima, media coverage outside of Japan has gradually died away, although the anniversary undoubtedly resulted in many reviews in Japan. It is worth considering how recovery has progressed offsite and onsite, how the present situations are, and what lessons can be learned for the future. JAEA, as a CoE of nuclear research and development institution in Japan, initiated its technical supports immediately after the accident to contribute to the environmental restoration and decommissioning of damaged nuclear sites. JAEA has continued actions for a radiation protection including aerial radiation monitoring for the environment and whole body counting to check internal radiation exposure of residents, and has completed large-scale pilot project for cleaning up residential areas. JAEA has also worked on development of remote-sensing/controlled technology to retrieve nuclear fuel debris from the crippled nuclear reactors. During the past ten years, decommissioning work has technically been slowly, but steadily progressed, and the evacuation areas were remarkably reduced in size, but, "insufficiency" can't be denied regarding regeneration of local industries and restoration of local communities. The speaker provides, partly as a private remark, lessons we can learn for the future, through experiences of the speaker who was involved in the response to the accident.