The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has launched a database of radiation measurements collected in Japan following last year's accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).
The Fukushima Monitoring Database - available to all IAEA member-states and the public - provides radiation measurements collected both near and far from the power plant since the March, 2011 nuclear accident.
Prepared by the IAEA's Incident and Emergency Center (IEC), the database enables analysts to both search and download such data as dose rate measurements and environmental samples including leaves, water, and soil. The information was collected as part of the U.N. nuclear watchdog's role in implementing the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident, under which Japan has been providing the IEC with information about the Fukushima accident.
Following the accident, the IEC regularly summarized this information in its Status Updates to Member-States and the public, and now the database provides Member-States and the public with access to the data that was previously summarized. The IEC will continue to update the database with additional radiation monitoring information it has received from Japan.
"This new database consolidates a large amount of radiological monitoring information into a useful, effective tool for studying the effects of the Fukushima accident," said Denis Flory, IAEA Deputy Director- General for Nuclear Safety and Security. "I'm grateful for the strong support from the Japanese Government to make available this invaluable resource to scientists and the public around the world," he added.
A magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami on March 11 knocked out the Fukushima nuclear plant's emergency power supply equipment, which was needed to cool its reactors and spent fuel storage pools.
High-level radiation leak following explosions and fires triggered by the tremor forced TEPCO to scrap four of its six reactors.
About 48,000 families who lived within a 30-kilometer radius of the stricken atomic power plant were forced to evacuate due to radiation released from the plant.
TEPCO is indebted to pay compensation to about 160,000 people affected by radiation leaks and evacuation, which is estimated to cost Asia's biggest power company trillions of yen.
It is estimated that Fukushima nuclear disaster released large amount of radioactive caesium into the atmosphere, reaching 40 percent of the total from Chernobyl.
by RTT Staff Writer
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