A Collaborative Database to Support the Ongoing Fukushima Daiichi NPP Decommissioning

Lead Research Organisation: University of Bristol
Department Name: Physics

Abstract

The accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) in March 2011 represents one of the worst radioactive release events to have ever occurred. In the aftermath of the event approximately 160,000 people were evacuated from their homes - many of whom are still to return due to the high levels of radiation that surround the plant. While eight years have now passed since the multi-reactor incident, there still exists a considerable gap in the connected knowledge of not only where the radioactive particulate released during the accident exists and the state/form of such material, but also the state of the multiple damaged reactor cores and the resulting decommissioning challenges associated with the eventual fuel debris retrievals.

Since the accident, and release of material from three of the site's nuclear reactors, there have been numerous studies on the microscopic material recovered from aerosol samplers, plant surfaces, bulk sediments and even articles of clothing. Such studies on the particulate extracted from these samples have provided stochastic insight into the nature/cause of the accident, its environmental legacy and more-importantly the conditions that will be faced during the soon to commence clean-up activities.

The outcome of this project seeks to consolidate the multinational fragmented knowledge on this harmful, radioactive and chemotoxic contamination (most of which is easily inhalable being of micron-scale) to produce a cross-institutional platform (supported by the IAEA, Sellafield Ltd, JAEA and numerous international research organisations) on which information pertaining to the particulates location can be combined with experimentally-derived information (e.g. structure, form, composition). Such a collaborative platform would; (i) accelerate the understanding of the environmental hazards associated with this invisible material, and most-importantly over the next decade, (ii) provide the required physical data to support in-situ (reactor) measurements made using systems such as the University of Bristol "Rad Hard" Diamond Detection system.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description This database has allowed for inter-comparison of fallout particle data from different academic groupings and the IAEA - providing sampling data from across the Fukushima fallout zone. Having the database allows regional trends to be observed in radiation data to provide enhanced understanding of the fallout dynamics and subsequent movement and differentiation of material.
Exploitation Route As explained above, this database will support further research by the international research community to derive trends and understanding in the plume deposition of radioactive materials.
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Energy

Security and Diplomacy

Other

URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLbBWEL6L5w
 
Title International Particle Analysis Database - IPAD 
Description With funding from the University of Bristol Cabot Institute and STFC IPS capital funding we have established jointly with the JAEA, Japan a particle analysis database for nuclear forensic 'hot' particles. This database is also sanctioned and sponsored by the IAEA. Launched in 2020, this database will be the repository for shared nuclear forensic data from fallout analysis - primarily for Fukushima but also for other 'incident' or 'interest' sites around the world. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact It is too early to define the impact. Expected impact is that this database will become a reference and tool for nuclear forensics specialists around the world and provide a neutral portal for sharing data. 
 
Title Metadata record for: Project IPAD, a database to catalogue the analysis of Fukushima Daiichi accident fragmental release material 
Description This dataset contains key characteristics about the data described in the Data Descriptor Project IPAD, a database to catalogue the analysis of Fukushima Daiichi accident fragmental release material. Contents: 1. human readable metadata summary table in CSV format 2. machine readable metadata file in JSON format 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://springernature.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Metadata_record_for_Project_IPAD_a_database_to_...
 
Title Metadata record for: Project IPAD, a database to catalogue the analysis of Fukushima Daiichi accident fragmental release material 
Description This dataset contains key characteristics about the data described in the Data Descriptor Project IPAD, a database to catalogue the analysis of Fukushima Daiichi accident fragmental release material. Contents: 1. human readable metadata summary table in CSV format 2. machine readable metadata file in JSON format 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://springernature.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Metadata_record_for_Project_IPAD_a_database_to_...
 
Description JAEA Fukushima fallout collaboration 
Organisation Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)
Country Japan 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution The two teams (Bristol and JAEA) have formed a collaboration to research aspects of the fallout material ejected from the Fukushima reactor explosions in March 2011. Specifically, Bristol have applied advanced materials analysis techniques to samples of fallout material to determine its physical size, structure, morphology, elemental composition and isotopic signature. This complements the analytical capability and activities at the JAEA CLADS facility in Tomioka. Bristol has also gained STFC funding and established a secure database for the collection, sharing and analysis of data relating to fallout materials collected from different regions of the Fukushima fallout zone. JAEA had substantial input into the design and access arrangements for the database and associated wed interface.
Collaborator Contribution The JAEA side have provided analysis, by electron microscopy, gamma spectrometry, SIMS and autoradiography to determine the size, number, activity and isotopic characteristics of fallout materials to complement the Bristol data. They have also collected other particle/fallout analysis data from other research groups in Japan to add to the database.
Impact This is a multi-disciplinary collaboration centred around materials analysis and radiation mapping. The work has led to numerous publications and a joint collaboration agreement between JAEA and Bristol, which is renewed on a 3 yearly basis.
Start Year 2017
 
Description University of Kyoto - Fukushima collaboration 
Organisation University of Kyoto
Country Japan 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The two teams (Bristol and Kyoto) have formed a collaboration to research aspects of the fallout material ejected from the Fukushima reactor explosions in March 2011. Specifically, Bristol have applied advanced materials analysis techniques to samples of fallout material to determine its physical size, structure, morphology, elemental composition and isotopic signature. Bristol has also gained STFC funding and established a secure database for the collection, sharing and analysis of data relating to fallout materials collected from different regions of the Fukushima fallout zone
Collaborator Contribution The Kyoto side have provided analysis, by electron microscopy, gamma spectrometry and laser techniques to determine the size, activity and fluorescence characteristics of fallout materials to complement the Bristol data. They have also collected other particle/fallout analysis data from other research groups in Japan to add to the database.
Impact This collaboration is multi-disciplinary but mainly focused around materials analysis and radiation mapping. The collaboration has led to joint UK-Japan nuclear research projects funded by EPSRC and MEXT. It has also led to STFC funding to form a collaborative 'nuclear particle forensics' database. This partnership has also led to the development of a partnership between Bristol and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA).
Start Year 2013
 
Title IPAD database 
Description The International Particle Analysis Database (IPAD) is an user access database designed for the storage, sharing and analysis of materials analysis data from fallout materials collected (and analysed) from different areas of the Fukushima fallout zone. The database data (stored on AWS) can be interrogated via the IPAD web interface and data patterns can be derived using different data plotting filters. 
Type Of Technology Webtool/Application 
Year Produced 2020 
Impact This product allows for different research groups to share and collectively pool their data sets to determine trends that are only visible when many data are compiled for analysis. 
URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLbBWEL6L5w