Nuclear Accident Warnings on Your Cell Phone

Wondering if the nuclear power station in your prefecture is leaking fatal levels of radiation? Just check your cell phone:

The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency will from fiscal 2008 offer an online service for cell phones that will provide the latest information on accidents and incidents at nuclear power stations and related facilities.

The site will use easy-to-understand language to quickly provide information on matters such as the condition of nuclear reactors and radioactivity measurements, as well as whether local residents should evacuate.

NISA, which is under the jurisdiction of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, also will send texts with such information to those who request them.

The Niigata Prefecture Chuetsu Offshore Earthquake in July caused a transformer fire and tiny amounts of radioactive substances to leak at the Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station in Niigata Prefecture. But the leak was not at such a level that it caused health or pollution concerns.

Despite this, many local residents became anxious and the region’s reputation suffered.

NISA has concluded that a cause of this anxiety was that correct information based on the conditions at the site was not relayed to residents, and this led the agency to set up a mobile phone homepage that is easy to access as well as a mobile texting service.

A cool idea, assuming that the power company actually discloses the level of leaks instead of trying to cover them up.