[ RadSafe ] UK government's Fukushima crisis plan

[Fred Dawson GoogleMail]

Guardian reports UK government's Fukushima crisis plan based on bigger leak
than Chernobyl

As Japan's nuclear emergency unfolded, scientists devised a worst case
scenario involving issuing iodine pills to Britons

The British government made contingency plans at the height of the Fukushima
nuclear crisis which anticipated a "reasonable worst case scenario" of the
plant releasing more radiation than Chernobyl, new documents released to the
Guardian show.

The grim assessment was used to underpin plans by the British embassy in
Tokyo to issue protective iodine pills to expats and visitors. It also
prompted detailed plans by Cobra, the government's emergency committee, to
scramble specialist teams to screen passengers returning from Japan at UK
airports for radioactive contamination.

The UK government's response to the unfolding crisis is revealed in
documents prepared for Sir John Beddington, the chief scientist and chair of
the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), and released to the
Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act. The 30 documents include
advice from the National Nuclear Laboratory on damage to the plant, public
safety assessments from the Health Protection Agency (HPA), computer models
of the radioactive plume from Defra's Radioactive Incident Monitoring
Network (Rimnet), and the worst case scenario that might unfold at the
plant.

A substantial number of documents were withheld on grounds that they
contained "information which, if disclosed, would adversely affect
international relations," the government's civil contingencies team said.

continues at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/jun/20/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami-j
apan


Fred Dawson
New Malden
England