EPA’s Response to Fukushima Japan Nuclear Emergency

Mike Boyd, Senior Health PhysicistEPA/Office of Radiation & Indoor AirPresented at 2011 OAS Annual MeetingRichmond, VAAugust 24, 2011

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Impact of Earthquake and TsunamiDamage to the Reactors• Level 7 - "Major Accident" on International Nuclear Event Scale

– "A major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures"

– Loss of Cooling– Damage to Secondary Containment Vessels– Fuel Meltdown

Releases of Radiation to the Environment

• “More than several tens of thousands of terabequerels of I-131” – Air releases – Intentional Venting & Hydrogen Explosions– Ocean Releases – Intentional release of Cooling water & Leakage

http://www.dae.gov.in/daiichi/japan130411.pdf

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EPA Response• Emergency Operations Center

• Radiological Emergency Response Team

• Regional Response

• RadNet

– Fixed Network– Deployable Monitors– Precipitation Sampling– Milk Sampling– Drinking Water Sampling– Laboratory Analysis

• EPA Japan Incident Website: http://www.epa.gov/japan2011/

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National Radiation Monitoring System• EPA's RadNet monitors across the

US showed typical fluctuations in background radiation levels.

• Additional Deployable Monitors were sent to the Aleutian islands, Hawaii, Guam and Saipan to improve monitoring coverage for this event.

• The levels detected to date are far below levels of concern

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Air Monitoring Stations

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RadNet Deployable Monitors:

Fukushima Response

Nome

Juneau Nome

Saipan Guam

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Deployable Monitors

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Monitoring Results

• Why focus on Iodine-131?– Primary Component of Fukushima release

– Gaseous Phase• Transported Great Distance in Atmosphere

– Sensitivity• Easily detected and measured

– Clearly Illustrates impacts and trends

– Primary Source of Potential Exposure• Concern for uptake in child thyroid

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0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Iodine – 131 in Precipitation – Post March 11, 2011All Locations

Date Collected

pCi/

L

10

18-Mar-

11

19-Mar-

11

20-Mar-

11

21-Mar-

11

22-Mar-

11

23-Mar-

11

24-Mar-

11

25-Mar-

11

26-Mar-

11

27-Mar-

11

28-Mar-

11

29-Mar-

11

30-Mar-

11

31-Mar-

11

1-Apr-11

2-Apr-11

3-Apr-11

4-Apr-11

5-Apr-11

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3Charcoal Filters: Iodine-131 – Post March 11, 2011

(All Locations)

Date Sampled

Iodi

ne -1

31:

pCi/

L

11

January

-05

April-05

July-05

October-0

5

January

-06

May-06

August-

06

November-0

6

February

-07

June-07

September-0

7

December-0

7

March-08

June-08

October-0

8

January

-09

April-09

July-09

November-0

9

February

-10

May-10

August-

10-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

Iodine in Drinking Water: Pre-March 11, 2011(All Locations: 2005-2011 in pCi/L)

12

21-Mar-

11

23-Mar-

11

25-Mar-

11

27-Mar-

11

29-Mar-

11

31-Mar-

11

2-Apr-11

4-Apr-11

6-Apr-11

8-Apr-11

10-Apr-11

12-Apr-11

14-Apr-11

16-Apr-11

18-Apr-11

20-Apr-11

0

5

10

15

20

I-131 in Milk Post-March 11, 2011(All Locations)

Date Collected

pCi/

L

FDA DIL: 4,700 pCi/L

13

14

15

16

17

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Comparing Chernobyl Data to Current Event Data

Highest I-131 in milk

Highest I-131 in air Highest I-131 in rain

Chernobyl 1986

136 pCi/L Spokane

1.6 pCi/m3 Boise & Phoenix

6,620 pCi/L Spokane

Japan 2011

18 pCi/L Hilo, HI

0.84 pCi/m3 Boise

390 pCi/L Boise

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What is Additional Risk from Fukushima?

• Trace levels of radioactive isotopes measured are consistent with the Japanese nuclear incident and far below levels of public health concern.

• Additional exposure from well below 1 mrem for individuals in US and Territories

• Measured levels hundreds to thousands of times lower than FDA Derived Intervention Levels (DILS)

http://www.epa.gov/radiation/understand/perspective.html