The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has sent a total of eleven experts to Tokyo to provide assistance as requested by the Japanese government.   The first two members left the US Saturday.  The remaining members of the team left the US Monday evening and were due to arrive in Tokyo Wednesday afternoon. The team includes additional reactor experts, international affairs professional staffers, and a senior manager from one of the NRC’s four operating regions.  The team has been instructed to:

• conduct all activities needed to understand the status of efforts to safely shut down the Japanese reactors;
• better understand the potential impact on people and the environment of any radioactivity releases;
• if asked, provide technical advice and support through the U.S. ambassador for the Japanese government’s decision making process;
• and draw on NRC-headquarters expertise for any other additional technical requirements.

The team will be in communication with the Japanese regulator, the U.S. Embassy, NRC headquarters, and other government stakeholders as appropriate.

According to NHK, the US Ambassador in Japan has announced that the US will conduct its own measurements of radioactivity in Japan in the wake of radiation leaks from Fukushima Daiichi.   He said that measuring equipment and 34 experts arrived in Japan Tuesday. The equipment included instruments for measuring radiation levels on the ground and in the air and computer systems to process the data. It appears that this is the US Department of Energy’s Aerial Measuring System capability, including detectors and analytical equipment used to provide assessments of contamination.

I suspect that this team has the capability to model the geographic spread of airborne radioactive material.

This team appears to be in addition to the NRC team.

The ambassdor said that the US is deploying all these capabilities because it’s important to provide as much assistance to the Japanese as possible. He said ensuring the safety of the US citizens in Japan is their highest concern, adding that it doesn’t mean his government doesn’t trust data provided by Japan.