nuclear-news

Japan admits to errors in radiation data for every nuclear power plant in the country

Japan’s ‘nuclear radiation projection’ had errors http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/japans-nuclear-radiation-projection-had-errors_816717.html, December 14, 2012,   Washington: The Nuclear Regulation Authority of Japan said a thorough review of its mistake-plagued projections for the spread of radiation, in a case of possible meltdown like the Fukushima crisis, turned up errors in the data for every atomic power plant in the country.

The NRA said there were significant changes in diagrams for how
radiation could spread in the event of crises at Kyushu Electric Power
Co’s Genkai and Sendai power plants and Hokkaido Electric Power Co’s
Tomari nuclear complex, compared with the previously revised
projections released October 29, The Japan Times reports.

According to the paper, the three projections had to be revised either
because the plant operators supplied erroneous weather information or
because the data were incorrectly processed by the Japan Nuclear
Energy y Safety Organisation, which was tasked with creating the
projections.

The process of calculating the projections for the remaining 14 plants
across the country, including disaster-hit Fukushima No 1 operated by
Tokyo Electric Power Co, also contained errors or was mishandled,
although this did not result in drastic changes in the projections,
according to the NRA’s secretariat, the paper said.

The simulation showed the distances at which doses could reach 100
millisieverts a week after a severe crisis like last year’s three
meltdowns at Fukushima No 1. At that dose level, evacuation is
recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the paper
added.

The regulatory body examined the data in detail to ensure there would
be no more mistakes in the projections. Local governments are expected
to use the information to

December 15, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, safety