NRC Meteorologists Role in Support of the Headquarters Operations Center During an International Event

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NRC Meteorologists Role in Support of the
Headquarters Operations Center During an
International Event

• Kevin Quinlan
• Physical Scientist, NRO
• U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• June 27 - 29, 2011
• Oak Brook, IL
• Nuclear Utility Meteorological Data Users Group
  (NUMUG)

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Purpose of Presentation

• To explain the typical role of an NRC
  Meteorologist in the Headquarters Operations
  Center (HOC).
• To describe the unique challenges of the
  meteorologists while supporting an international
  event.

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Outline of Presentation

• Typical role of an NRC Meteorologists in the HOC
• Summary of Events in Japan
• Initiation of Meteorological Support
• Unique Challenges of International Support
• Creating and Verifying Weather Forecasts
• Determining Wind Speed and Direction at time of
  Large Releases

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Typical Role of HOC Meteorologist

• Gather available meteorological observations and
  forecast data
• Update RASCAL file with most up-to-date forecast
  and observation data
• Provide short and long-term forecasts to the
  Protective Measures Team (PMT) lead
• Evaluate the presence or absence of local
  meteorological phenomenon

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Location of Events and Information Sources
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Summary of Events

• Friday March 11th _at_ 236 pm local
• Magnitude 9.0 earthquake 231 miles northeast of
  Tokyo.
• Quake is fifth largest in the world (since 1900).
• Earthquake generated a 14m Tsunami
• Earthquake
• Automatic Shutdown of the 3 Operating Units at
  Fukushima Dai-ichi
• Offsite Power Lost
• Initial indications were that Emergency Diesels
  operated
• 14m Tsunami (less than 1 hour later)
• All Emergency Back-up Power Lost
• 8-10 hours later Station Batteries Depleted

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Initiation of Support by NRC HOC

• The U.S. NRC Headquarters Operations Center (HOC)
  was activated to provide 24 hour support to the
  American Embassy in Japan and American citizens
  and servicemen in the region.
• Within the HOC organization, the NRC
  Meteorologists support the PMT, whose role is to
  advise the Executive Team (ET) on
• the potential consequences of an event
• the status of protective actions underway
• any conditions that might impede necessary
  protective actions

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Unique Challenges of International Support

• Determining availability of near real-time onsite
  met data
• Identify offsite sources of met data
• Familiarization of foreign country on-line data
  resources
• Familiarization with local and regional
  topographic settings
• Language barriers and time zone conversions
• Determining operating status of nearby
  observation stations
• Establish international agency contacts through
  liaisons

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Initial Sources of Observation Data

• Japanese Meteorological Agency (JMA) hourly
  recording stations in Sendai, Onahama, and
  Fukushima City

Source Adapted from Japan Meteorological Agency
http//www.jma.go.jp/jma/en/menu.html
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Initial Sources of Observation Data (Cont.)
Hourly Observations for Sendai Meteorological
Observatory
Source Japan Meteorological Agency
http//www.jma.go.jp/jma/en/menu.html
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Initial Sources of Forecast Data

• Short-term forecasts from the National
  Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC)
• 5 km resolution Weather Research Forecasting
  (WRF) model simulations initialized from Global
  Forecast System (GFS) data.
• 45-km resolution GFS output
• JMA forecasts for Sendai, Onahama, and Fukushima
  City
• Forecast and observation websites
• Weather Underground, Weather Channel, Wind Finder

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Updating Forecasts

• Received forecast from NARAC every 6 12 hours
• Compared hourly WRF output against other
  available sources for consistency
• Updated RASCAL file to add new forecast data
• Created visual forecast tools (e.g., wind roses,
  directional arrows)

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Example of Visual Forecast Tool
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Long Range Forecast Tools
Daily forecast from JMA (Above). Hourly forecast
from Wind Finder based off GFS (Right). 45-km GFS
output from Wind Finder (Below).
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Onsite Data from Fukushima Dai-ni
Wind Dir ? Wind Speed ?
Note Observations typically in 10-minute
intervals Source Tokyo Electric Power Company
(TEPCO)
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Onsite Data from Fukushima Dai-ni vs. NARAC WRF
output (March 16-24)Wind Direction
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Onsite Data from Fukushima Dai-ni vs. NARAC WRF
output (March 16-24) Wind Speed
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Large Release Events
Source of Radiation Data TEPCO
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Aerial Monitoring Flight Data
Source http//blog.energy.gov/content/situation-j
apan/
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Determining Wind Speed and Direction at time of
Large Releases

• NRC Meteorologists asked to determine the wind
  speed and direction during the timeframe of the
  largest releases.
• Gap in RASCAL meteorological data file between
  3/13/11 at 1000 JST and 3/14/11 at 1700 JST
  (total of 31 hours)
• NRC staff used available hourly data from Weather
  Underground for Sendai to fill in part of the gap.

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N W S E N
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Summary of Meteorologist Support

• Presented with a variety of challenges outside of
  normal responsibilities
• Determining functioning observation sites
• Determining availability of onsite met data
• Language barriers
• Working with HOC international liaisons to answer
  inquiries
• Supported PMT Lead and Dose Analysts with current
  forecasts and recent historical data
• Collected, graphed, and analyzed radiation and
  meteorological data from multiple sources

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Summary (Cont.)

• Meteorologists role in support of HOC was just
  one of many moving parts.
• Many sources of public information were provided
  by government entities.
• NRC is committed to a systematic and methodical
  review of Fukushima events and response.

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• Thank You!
• Questions?

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Online Resources

• Weather Underground
• www.weatherunderground.com
• Weather Channel
• www.weather.com
• Wind Finder
• www.windfinder.com
• Japan Meteorological Agency
• www.jma.go.jp/jma/indexe.html
• DOE Blog
• http//blog.energy.gov/content/situation-japan/
• TEPCO
• http//www.tepco.co.jp/en/index-e.html