Tokyo - When a nuclear power plant accident occurs and radioactive material is released, it is vital to evacuate people in the vicinity as quickly as possible. However, it can be difficult to immediately predict where the emitted radioactivity will settle, making it impossible to prevent the exposure of large numbers of people.
A means of overcoming this difficulty has been presented in a new study reported in the journal Scientific Reports by a research team at The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science. The team has created a computer program that can accurately predict where radioactive material that has been emitted will eventually land, over 30 hours in advance, using weather forecasts on the expected wind patterns. This tool enables evacuation plans and other health-protective measures to be implemented if another nuclear accident like in 2011 at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant were to occur.
"Our new tool was first trained using years of weather-related data to predict where radioactivity would be distributed if it were released from a particular point," lead author Takao Yoshikane says. "In subsequent testing, it could predict the direction of dispersion with at least 85% accuracy, with this rising to 95% in winter when there are more predictable weather patterns."
"The fact that the accuracy of this approach did not decrease when predicting over 30 hours into the future is extremely important in disaster scenarios," Takao Yoshikane says. "This gives authorities time to arrange evacuation plans in the most badly affected areas, and to issue guidance to people in specific areas about avoiding eating fresh produce and taking potassium iodide, which can limit the absorption of ingested radioactive isotopes by the body."
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The article, "Dispersion characteristics of radioactive materials estimated by wind patterns" was published in Scientific Reports at DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-27955-4.
About Institute of Industrial Science (IIS), the University of Tokyo
Institute of Industrial Science (IIS), the University of Tokyo is one of the largest university-attached research institutes in Japan.
More than 120 research laboratories, each headed by a faculty member, comprise IIS, with more than 1,000 members including approximately 300 staff and 700 students actively engaged in education and research. Our activities cover almost all the areas of engineering disciplines. Since its foundation in 1949, IIS has worked to bridge the huge gaps that exist between academic disciplines and real-world applications.
Research Contact
Project Lecturer Takao Yoshikane
Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo
4-6-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan
Tel: +81-471-366-965
E-mail: takao-y@iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp
URL: http://isotope.iis.u-tokyo.ac.jp/
Scientific Reports