THE GREAT EASTERN JAPAN EARTHQUAKE 11MAR2011: Japan Failed to Release Radiation Threat Data

Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011

Japan's government initially failed to make public computer data on the anticipated movement of radioactive contaminants from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in March, resulting in evacuees congregating in some areas threatened by radiation, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Aug. 8).

(Aug. 9) - Evacuees occupy a shelter in Minamisoma, Japan, one day after an earthquake and tsunami severely damaged a nuclear power plant in the region. The Japanese government failed early in the crisis to release computer calculations forecasting the spread of radioactive contaminants from the plant to Minamisoma and other inhabited areas (Kazuhiro Nogi/Getty Images).

Authorities have battled to prevent radioactive contaminants from escaping the six-reactor facility following a March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 20,000 people dead or missing in Japan.

Tokyo failed to take full advantage of radiation threat information early in the crisis, due partly to lapses in coordination between government entities and a poor understanding among senior officials of the nation's radioactive plume modeling system, dubbed the System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information, according to discussions with critical officials and an examination of records and documented exchanges within the Japanese legislature.

Lower-level Japanese officials ordered 18 or more reports from the 25-year-old, $140 million modeling system within the first day of the crisis, as Tokyo urged the plant's operator to vent radiation-tainted vapor from the site in an attempt to prevent an explosion. The assessments included a warning that radioactive materials would spread to multiple local communities, but Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency did not pass the information to the nation's leaders
.