Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 22
RODOS and the Fukushima Accident
Abstract
The chapter describes the contribution of the JRodos Accident Conse-
quence Group of the Institute of Nuclear Technology and Energy Technology
(IKET) as part of the activities of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT),
Germany, in frame of the Fukushima reactor accident.
As soon as the Fukushima reactor accident became known, the Karlsruhe Institute
of Technology (KIT) started collecting information and making it available to
public authorities, the media, and the interested public. The Accident Consequence
Group of the Institute of Nuclear Technology and Energy Technology (IKET)
1
participated in these activities by means of the JRodos system.
To begin with, the general purpose of the work was the generation and supply of
information about the situation in Japan and in particular around Fukushima on the
basis of the very sparse data initially available. As the IKET Accident Consequence
Group coordinates all RODOS specific activities and supports the operational
emergency centers using the system by means of maintenance contracts, the most
pressing task was upgrading the JAVA-based JRodos—a system originally devel-
oped for Europe—for usage as a forecast instrument for detecting potentially
threatening situations in Fukushima. The successful setting-up of JRodos for
Fukushima within only a few days provided the basis that enabled all other users
to conduct own investigations with JRodos about the situation there.
In a first step, necessary basic data were collected for northern Japan and
processed for JRodos, such as topography, land use, type of soil, and population
distribution. In a second step, the KIT Institute of Meteorology and Climatology in
cooperation with the Weather Center
2
established the meteorological forecast
1
IKET Homepage:
http://www.iket.kit.edu/english/index.php
(in English).
2
Homepage:
http://ww.wetterzentrale.de
(in German).
