Society News Archive

26 June 2013
Novel Method of Airborne Monitoring Reported in HP Journal

The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) have developed a novel method for analyzing airborne radiological monitoring data. This new method has been used to perform a detailed study of survey data taken by the NNSA and JAEA in the months following the March 2011 radiological incident in Japan.

Aerial surveys were employed in the region surrounding the stricken Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to cover the area impacted by the accident quickly, thoroughly, and safely. This new analysis provides a complete map of iodine-131 deposition. Iodine-131 is an important contributor to radiological dose and its concentration was uncertain during the incident due to its short half-life and the complexity of the analysis. A map of iodione-131 deposition is a critical step in order to conduct accurate exposure assessments, population dose reconstruction, and follow-up epidemiological studies.

Results of the analysis will be released in the August issue of the Health Physics Journal, which can now be found online here.

Read the NNSA press release here.