Fukushima Daiichi – Six Years Later

  • Joe Shepherd | California Institute of Technololgy (Caltech)

Following the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunamis off the northeastern coast of Japan, the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant personnel encountered extraordinary challenges in managing the loss of electrical power, control, and instrumentation at the six reactors and seven spent fuel pools. Improvising responses in the face of harsh conditions; their actions likely reduced the severity of the damage but ultimately three reactor cores were severely damaged and substantial radioactivity was released into the environment. These events have had a profound effect on the population in contaminated areas, Japanese attitudes toward nuclear power, and impacted substantially the national economy as well as the future of nuclear power industry in Japan. World-wide the reaction was mixed but in the US significant actions were taken to review and strengthen the safety at nuclear power plants. Following a brief review of the events at Fukushima immediately following the earthquake and tsunami, I will provide an update on the progress in managing the site and damaged reactors, decontamination and decommissioning activities. Actions taken in the US since 2011 will be summarized, including the recent US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Spent Fuel Pool Study and Expedited Transfer Regulatory Analysis that resulted in the decision to not carry out expedited transfer of spent fuel from pools to dry cask storage in US Nuclear Power Plants.

Series: Microsoft Research Talks