What is the best strategy against crisis communication

and how to prepare the risk communication?

- Lessons from the radioactive material leakage at J-PARC -

InterActions meeting @ SLACNovember 5th, 2013

Saeko OkadaPR office, KEK

J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex)

What happened ?

It was at around 11:55 on May 23, 2013

The electromagnets for slow extraction of proton beams from the 50-GeV synchrotron (MR) malfunctioned

An intense peaked beam beyond a designed value was delivered to the gold target in the Hadron experimental hall (HD hall)

Part of the gold target was damaged and the radioactive material dispersed from the gold target

• 異常なビーム• 標的が異常な高温に• 放射性物質の発生• 実験ホールへの漏えい　　→　作業者の被ばく• 実験施設外への漏えい　　→　管理区域外へ

金標的の写真6.6 cm 陽子ビ

ーム陽子ビーム

1

More in detail

Due to the malfunction of electromagnets, intense peaked proton beam exceeded a designed value was delivered to the gold target

The target was instantaneously heated up to a very

high temperature partially damaged, causing

vaporization of gold and dispersed of radioactive material in gold

The radioactive material leaked into the primary beamline room because the target container was not hermetically sealed

Since airtightness of the primary beamline room was not sufficient, the radioactive material leaked into the HD hall -.> workers were exposed to radiation 34 out of 102 at the HD hall were

internally exposed to radiation Maximum amount of their radiation doses

was 1.7 mSv based on the whole-body counter measurement, however, no adverse effects was found

Due to operation of ventilation fans in the HD hall, the radioactive material was released into the environment outside of the radiation controlled area of the HD facility

Then it leaded to…

The radioactive material leaked into the environment outside of the radiation controlled area of the Hadron Experimental facility (HD facility) The total amount of radioactive material

released into the HD hall was estimated with a simulation found to be -20 billion Bq (based on actual data of the airborne sample that had been collected at HD hall and readings of the area monitors in the HD hall, being )

The radiation dose of the site boundary at the location closest to the HD facility was estimated below 0.29 uSv which has little effect on the environment

Why it happened?

It was due to the a series of incidents beyond expectations and a failure in grabbing ongoing situations property

Media relation

Media coverage – so huge

戦闘モード（興奮期）

記者の関心やニュース量

時間の経過

発生　冷静期

情報隠しなどの不祥事

　沈静期

Covered every event

An accident became a matter!

Why?

Inadequate operation at the first step JAEA held the press conference at 2 am

in the midnight on Friday! Just soon after it turned out that it was

an accident that had to be reported to the Nuclear Regulation Authority

Press wrote the report with HUGE ANGER because there were little information even though they were waken up in the midnight, and that anger kept on affecting the entire reports

KEK press office was not informed about it until Monday

Background J-PARC is co-managed by KEK and Japan

Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) JAEA has had some matters by then

They hide the video related their former accident happened with Monju Nuclear Power Plant to the press

Former executive director suddenly resigned

“Radioactive material” – strong sense of fear rooted deeply in the public caused by Fukushima

Journalists entitled the reports “Again, JAEA, due to the same substantial nature of atomic energy society which caused Fukushima”

At the press conference We had to hold the press

conference at the press club which belongs to Nuclear Regulation Authority, whose journalists were not science journalists Who are hard to understand the

technical explanations done by researchers

Press materials prepared by researchers were not plain enough to let the journalists understood

Researchers were not used to communicate with journalists, no experiences of media training

Inhabitants & an opposition faction relation

Explanatory meetings 1st series

13th to 15th of June, 3 times 2nd series

31st of Oct. to 2nd of Nov., 3 times Most of the participants are inhabitants at the

village, who are supportive to J-PARC One man, who is not the inhabitant but opposite to

atomic energy opposes the restart of J-PARC, agitating the inhabitants (even though the number of his supporters is not so big so far) However, the media quotes his comment… We tried our best to answer their questions

sincerely

Open the “Hotline” from July Any comments and questions about the accident

were accepted by phone or email

Inhabitants’ inquiries and comments were…

“We are angry” “We are sad because you betrayed our

trust” “You physicists at KEK are so arrogant

that you are not thinking about us at all”

“I want to know what you were thinking when you started the fan”

Lessons from this event

If we could not let the public or the media understood the substantial information properly, it is the same thing as we did not inform them at all

It is the matter of trans-science communication: the emotion matters first. How much the researchers feels their responsibilities to the society matters. Unless otherwise, the public will not listen to our rational explanation

We need “the third man” Again, this man…

http://www.galileo-movie.jp/index.html

“It’s true that human beings have kept on breaking the nature. On the other hand, you have also kept on accepting its favor. The problem is just which way to choose.” (Dr. Yukawa from the movie Midsummer Equation)

What was good was…

Those journalists reported the accident, including TV reporters of private TV broadcasting companies, came the press conference of T2K to have covered it!