Modeling the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster with QUIC-DEPDOSE

MATTHEW NELSON, John Klumpp, Diego Rojas Blanco, Liam Wedell, Sonali John, Chibuike Onwukwe, Sara Brambilla, Michael Brown, Los Alamos National Laboratory

     Abstract Number: 398
     Working Group: Health-Related Aerosols

Abstract
By combining QUIC, an atmospheric plume dispersion application, with DEPDOSE, a respiratory tract deposition and dose calculation application capable of accounting for the sex, age, and activity level of individuals, QUIC-DEPDOSE calculates radiation doses to individual people from inhalation of radionuclides downwind from a radioactive plume. Following the earthquake and subsequent 15-meter tsunami on March 11, 2011, the local power grid and most of the backup power at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant failed, resulting in a loss of cooling for the nuclear reactors. The lack of cooling led to a nuclear disaster that unfolded over several days as the heat and pressure within various reactors built up. On March 12, the prime minister ordered an evacuation of all residences within 10 km of the plant and workers intentionally relieved the pressure building within the reactor to forestall the explosions which eventually occurred. The Futaba Hospital and Deauville Futaba retirement home located about 4.5 km from the plant were included in the evacuation. The evacuation of these facilities under these chaotic circumstances was difficult and was not completed until March 16. Tragically, moving medically fragile people resulted in the deaths of 45 patients. We use QUIC-DEPDOSE to simulate the intentional release of material from the plant under hypothetical winds to estimate the exposure that could have resulted to hospital staff and patients had the plume resulting from the intentional venting of the reactor passed over the hospital.