Fukushima Case Study Flashcards

Flashcards reviewing key concepts from the Fukushima case study lecture notes.

What three events comprised the 'triple disaster' in Japan on March 11, 2011?

Earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster

What seismic fault line is Japan located near, contributing to its frequent seismic activity?

The ring of fire

What entities were established in the Prime Minister's Office in response to the triple disaster?

Crisis Management Center and Disaster Countermeasures HQ

What is the name of Japan's military forces that played a crucial role in disaster relief?

Self-Defense Forces (SDF)

What was the symbolic name of the U.S. support operation for Japan after the disaster, emphasizing the importance of the Japan-US alliance?

Operation Tomodachi

What was the primary goal of TEPCO after the Fukushima accident, in preparing the nuclear plant for decommissioning?

Minimize radiation leakage into the environment

Approximately how many people were displaced at the peak of the Fukushima crisis?

470,000

Which entity initially attributed the Fukushima nuclear disaster primarily to being a natural disaster event beyond anticipation?

TEPCO

Who chaired the independent investigation commission established by the National Diet to investigate the Fukushima incident?

Kiyoshi Kurokawa

What was the primary goal of the US occupation of Japan after World War II, as reflected in the post-war US-drafted constitution?

To democratize and demilitarize Japan

What ministry, along with 'public policy companies,' was instrumental in setting up beginning industries in Japan?

Ministry of International Trade and Industry

What comic book, serialized between 1973 and 1987, retold the atomic bombing and kept it alive in popular culture?

Barefoot Gen

What series, created by Osamu Tezuka, became known as the personification of 'Atoms for Peace' in Japanese popular culture?

Astro Boy

What characteristics defined potential host communities for nuclear plants in Japan?

Low levels of social cohesion, low mobilization potential, impoverished areas, and elderly population

What was the purpose of the 'Pluto Boy' PR campaign in 1993, launched amidst growing anti-nuclear sentiment?

To take away the fears about the risks of nuclear energy.

What did the DPJ promise upon their election victory in 2009, ending decades of Liberal Democratic Party rule?

Political change and to end collusion and bureaucracy’s control of public administration

What term refers to a powerful interest group in Japan bound by a common logic and agenda, viewing nuclear power as inherently safe, cheap, and reliable?

Japan’s 'nuclear village'

What is 'regulatory capture' in the context of the nuclear industry?

Regulators defer to the wishes and advance the agenda of the industry or sector they ostensibly regulate.

What event triggered a profound national energy security crisis in Japan?

Shutdown of nuclear power plants after Fukushima

According to Jake Wright, what is energy security?

The uninterrupted availability of energy sources at an affordable price.

What critical resource does Japan lack, making it reliant on imports for nuclear energy?

No natural uranium

Whose letter to Roosevelt in 1939, reporting on alarming scientific discoveries in Nazi Germany, initiated the Manhattan Project?

Szilard and Einstein

What nuclear reaction involves the splitting of an atom's nucleus into two or more smaller, lighter nuclei?

Nuclear Fission

Who built the world's first nuclear reactor in 1942, in the basement of the University of Chicago?

Enrico Fermi

What is the complex chemical process of extracting plutonium-239 from the remains of a nuclear reactor called?

Reprocessing

What are the dual-use technologies that can be utilized for both civilian and military nuclear applications?

Uranium enrichment and reprocessing

What event in 1962 nearly led to a direct confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union, influencing discussions about nuclear weapons production and use?

Cuban Missile Crisis

What treaty aims to ensure that countries with nuclear weapons won't use them, and other countries won't enter the nuclear stage?

Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)

What two accidents exacerbated discussions on the ethics of nuclear energy, leading to more dedicated academic work defending against nuclear energy?

Three Mile Island and Chernobyl

What term describes sustainability's focus on human beings?

Anthropocentric

What six values comprise sustainability, addressing the ethics of nuclear energy?

Resource durability, economic viability, technological applicability, environmental friendliness, public safety, and security

What organization developed the three principles of radiological protection?

ICRP

What process, characterized by half-life time, deactivates radiological waste?

Natural decay

What did TEPCO initially attribute accident to?

Natural disaster

In what year did the TEPCO falsification scandal occur, revealing the falsification of reports and editing of evidence?

2002

What characterized TEPCO's nuclear safety operation in Japan, influencing its vulnerability to the Fukushima disaster?

Insular and defensive attitude

What statement exemplifies the 'groupism' mentality within Japanese organizations that hindered effective safety precautions at Fukushima?

There was a nothing that I, as an individual, could do to make a difference: it would be like trying to dam a flood with a toothpick.

What is Japan's 'safety myth'?

Blind faith in Japanese technological superiority

What four facets are essential for a successful safety culture?

Senior management commitment to safety, shared care and concern about hazards, realistic and flexible norms, and continual reflection and improvement

What definition sees probability as the long-run expected frequency of occurence?

The frequentist definition

According to the cut set approach when does system failure occur?

C1 AND C3) OR (C2 AND C4) OR (C1 and C4)

What is the probability of an event happening AND the probability of an event not happening?

P(A) + P(-A) = 1.0

According to Morgans-rule, the probability that all lights burn is?

0.99% x 0.99% x 0.99%

Where can an exclusive or-gate be used?

Electrical engineering

What is 'hazard identification'?

HAZID

Is a cut set an OR GATE or an AND GATE?

OR-GATE

Is Path set an example of an OR-GATE or AND-GATE?

AND-GATE

What does a sensitivity analysis of systems investigate?

What happens with that probability of system failure if you assume that one of the components is unfailable.

What is the Delta-committee?

That is for some reasons a safety level is not met so safety measures is taken

What did 'travelling salesman problem' describe?

The best route to visit ten German cities one time, with the smallest travel distance

What concept did the Delta-committee (1960) apply?

What the optimal route to visit ter German cities one time, with the smallest travel distance

What concept did the Delta-committee (1960) apply?

With the smallest travel distance

What political actor stated 'In a crisis, be aware of the danger – but recognize the opportunity’?

John F. Kennedy

What did The newsboy Problem refer to?

That is for some reasons what is the best for 400 people to stay or live the life or not .

In 'Essence of decision' who discusses three theoretical models on how public organizations should act in crisis situations?

Allison and Zelikow

What does 'Essence of decision

Those theoretical models on how public organizations should act in crisis situations

In what year did the 'Cuban missile crisis' occur?

1962

Logic of consequences can also be called what abbreviation?

RAM

What abbreviation can the 'Organizational Behaviour Model' also be called?

Logic of appropriateness

What abbreviation can the Governmental Politics Model also be called?

Logic of Power

Which country placed strategic offensive missiles in Cuba?

Soviet Union

What area was near the coast of when the Erika disaster (1999): oil tanker stranded?

France

What does the Rational Actor Model entail?

In this model, one does not look at the organizational or political explanations, one might

What was reactor, a Boiling Water Reactor during the accident?

BWR

What does 'scramming mean'?

In other words, scramming is inserting control rods in reactor cores, which is needed

Loss of electricity and on-sire, what did the plant experience?

Complete loss of external power from the electricity grids AND the internal power of the diesel generators

How can the system become safer?

By designing from the scratch for

What where the downer, 2015?

Three limitations of the assessments

Who discussed three limitations of the assessments?

Downer, 2015

Historically, Generation II reactors believed to have a meltdown frequency of what?

1*10^-4

To neglect social acpects?

Risk asesents

Which models have been often criticized for neglecting social aspects of risk?

Those models have been often criticized for neglecting social aspects of risk.

That risk assessors want to have with those methods?

Emerging ethical

Most efective governance regime in safetymass

Social

One of two conventions of iaea?

The Joint

Looking at the composition

That they all have diferent backgrounds and

Concentrating decision

A small

Most responsibilies is for TEPCO’s Action plans

They make all the decisions by themselves

Most important thing to know of the normal accident

That accidents are not unexpected or out of the ordinary:

What couplings do we have here in normal accident?

What happens to one component directly afects another (because

Complexaty

Is when the water afects several aspects of the working of the plant such

Weick name sense mass

Enacted

Are Low probability

Crises are challenging for

When the erica broke.what happened to her

Broke in two.

Safety has particularly been important after nuclear accidents:

After the Three Mile Island in

Diferent types

In designing reactors, fundamental trade-offs need to be made (between safety, security

Safey has been

Historicaly

Sorce Mass

National

Power the fuel

To use this now for power power

Harder

Not so hard mass?

Where do we expect new

To the genral.

Are personal

This is to make sure thaf peapoe have knoweldge tho its not the persons alone.