Lessons Learned from Fukushima Webinar
About the Webinar
Originally presented April 14, 2021
The U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) hosts the Emergency Response Research Webinar Series, a public webinar series featuring presentations to share EPA research to help inform decisions for state and local governments, tribes, and others.
March 11, 2021, marked the 10-year anniversary of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan which was caused by an initial earthquake and subsequent tsunami. This was the most significant accident at a nuclear power plant since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident resulted in radioactive contamination over a wide area and environmental remediation was necessary to protect public health. The scale of contamination was unprecedented in Japan and their efforts to effectively remediate the contaminated environment have identified many valuable lessons.
This webinar covers 1) how EPA responded to this accident to protect our nation and what actions EPA has undertaken to improve and strengthen its response capability since then, and 2) how Japan conducted remediation of the off-site contaminated environment focusing on their preparation, implementation, and verification of the work. Throughout Japan’s remediation efforts, several challenges have been identified and this presentation will share experiences and lessons that will greatly benefit decision makers and responders who have to prepare for wide area environmental remediation to respond to and recover from radiological contamination events.
About the Speakers
Kathryn Snead currently serves as the Acting Center Director for the Center for Radiological Emergency Management in EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. She has over twenty years of experience in the radiation protection arena, serving as a subject matter expert in radiation site survey, emergency preparedness, and emergency response. Ms. Snead participated in the original EPA response to the 2011 Japan Nuclear Incident. As a member of EPA’s Radiological Emergency Response Team, she has responded to non-radiological emergencies as well, including Hurricane Katrina, Deepwater Horizon, the Gold King Mine Release, and Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Ms. Snead graduated with a B.S. from N.C. State University and an M.S. from Virginia Tech University.
Sang Don Lee, Ph.D. is the Principal Associate National Program Director for Homeland Security Research Program at the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development. He has 17 years of experience at the EPA in environmental remediation and consequence management. His expertise includes material engineering, aerosol science, and environmental science, and much of his research at the EPA has focused on the remediation of Chemical, Biological and Radiological agents in the environment. He has supported Japanese government for its offsite remediation efforts following the Fukushima nuclear power plant incident since 2012.
