www.triusinc.com

It appears that TRIUS does nuclear safety work, so I was wondering if they have been involved at all with the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan last March. Well, I don't mean involved with the accident, but rather with the response to the accident or any studies, analyses, etc. about the accident. Can someone please let me know? I am writing a paper and I am looking for independent information on the accident, rather than what is being released by TEPCO.

Harrison, I don't know if TRIUS is involved and I am NOT involved in any official capacity, but I have been following it very closely, since the day it occurred. And, I don't know if you had any questions about it, or if I could answer them, but if you post them here, I'd be willing to give it a shot

It's not that I had any specific questions. I have been following this closely (well, as closely as I can) and I'm just tired of seeing technical updates from TEPCO which are more fluff than anything else. So, I was wondering if someone had better, sound information.

Actually, I take that back. Since you offered, I do have a couple of questions

What is the situation inside the vessels at the damaged reactors? I keep reading about the molten core and "part" of it is at the bottom of the vessel, or the rubble is getting critical again, or there are new short-lived fission products detected, or everything is under control, etc. You never know what to believe. Is there any good, reliable information regarding the condition of the cores in the reactors? Also, there was so much noise made about the spent fuel pools, in the first couple of months of the accident, and now nothing. What happened? Did the problem really just go away? If you have any descent information regarding these issues, I would be grateful if you shared it with us.

If all you are looking for is sources of information, other than TEPCO, I can give you some links...

Japan Atomic Industrial Forum - http://www.jaif.or.jp/english/
Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency - http://www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/index.html
Nuclear Energy Institute - http://nei.org/

I am sure there are hundreds of good links where one can get information, but in final analysis, information by itself is not all that useful. It's the proper interpretation of such information that makes it useful. In terms of understanding and evaluating risk, safety, etc., I would also recommend these links,

World Nuclear Association - http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf06.html
EPA Radiation Protection, Iodine - http://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclides/iodine.html

Thanks, Kimchin. I took a quick look and these sources are full of good info. I do understand your comment about the interpretation, though. Tables of numbers of measurements and values don't mean much, I agree. On that note, can I ask you to interpret something?

I read many reports recently about some radiation from short lived fission products which may mean there is material going critical. However, I have also heard that this may not necessarily mean that something is critical. What do you think?

Actually, I don't think anything is going critical in those vessels. Of course nobody can say for sure, until they somehow take a look, but I believe the radioisotopes being reported are simply products of spontaneous fission, and not of some mass going critical. I Don't have any details as to the measurements they are taking but the best way to tell if you are having some mass going critical is by measuring neutron flux with a neutron counter. Using the indirect way of measuring fission product activities is not always a good indicator.

Thanks for the insight, Kim chin. It is really appreciated!

In case anyone here is interested, here are some reports from the reporters that were allowed at Fukushima for the first time this weekend.

http://www.3news.co.nz/Photos-Fukushima ... fault.aspx

http://www.neimagazine.com/story.asp?storyCode=2061089