Panel Discussion: Situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

Panel Discussion: Situation at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant

 

Tuesday May 03, 2011
Jack Morton Auditorium, 5:00-7:00pm
805 21st St, NW Washington DC 20052

The George Washington University (GWU) is hosting a panel discussion on the aftermath of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, and the resulting situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The panel discussion is composed of internationally recognized and respected experts, who will present technical aspects of the situation at the Fukushima 1 nuclear power plant. The panelists will each give a 15-20 min presentation; the panel discussion will conclude with a 20-30 min Q&A session with the audience.
(View the event's presentation slides by clicking a subtitle link below)

Opening Remarks
Dr. David Dolling
Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Science, GWU

Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami
Dr. Majid Manzari
Professor, Civil and Environmental Eng., GWU

BWR Technology with Mark I Containment
Margaret Harding
President, 4Factor Consulting, LLC

Sequence of Events
Hidehiko Yamachika
General Manager of Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization (JNES) DC office

Effects of Radiation on Human Health
Dr. Rebecca Bittner
Assistant Professor of Radiology, GWU Medical Center

Advanced Reactors with Passive Safety Systems
Dr. Michael Podowski
Professor, Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Eng., RPI

Moderated by Dr. Philippe Bardet
Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Eng., GWU

Majid Manzari
Majid Manzari is a Professor of Civil Engineering at the George Washington University, where he has served on the faculty since 1994. Dr. Manzari received his BSc and MSc degrees in Civil Engineering from Tehran University, and his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of California at Davis. Dr. Manzari specializes in geomechanics and conducts research in geotechnical earthquake engineering and material modeling. He is the director of the GW Earthquake Engineering and Structures laboratory that operates a six-degree-of-freedom shake table capable of simulating seismic ground motions for the study of structures and geostructural systems. He has published extensively in geotechnical earthquake engineering, geomechanics, and constitutive modeling of engineering materials.

Dr. Manzari has served as an associate editor of the Journal of Engineering Mechanics of American Society of Civil Engineers, and as the Chair of Inelastic Behavior Committee of ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute. He is also a member of Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering committee of the ASCE Geo-Institute.  He is the recipient of 2011 ASCE/NCS meritorious service award.
Margaret Harding
Margaret Harding is the president of 4 Factor Consulting, LLC. She has 30 years of experience in the nuclear industry - she spent many of those years at GE Nuclear Energy, departing as Vice-President-Engineering Quality. She’s now a consultant to the nuclear power industry where she advises clients on quality, regulatory and technical issues. As the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan has unfolded over the past weeks, Margaret has been called upon by NBC, Fox News, CNN, the New York Times, and many others to explain and help bring clarity to the situation.

Margaret has a BS in Nuclear Engineering from Iowa State. She currently is on the technical advisory board for WizNucleus, a start-up company working cyber-security for the nuclear industry. In addition, she serves on the Industrial Advisory Council for Iowa State University Engineering College and as vice-president of the board of the local chapter of Girls, Inc.
Hidehiko Yamachika
Hidehiko Yamachika is the general manger of Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization in Washington D.C. office. He jointed to Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) as government worker. Since then, he has been involved mainly in energy affairs. He assigned to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) as an Economy Attache in Iraq and Bahrain during which Gulf crisis took place. Later, he moved back to Agency of Natural Resources and Energy (MITI) and is engaged in fuel cycle and radioactive waste management policy department. He also was assigned to Department of Nuclear Energy, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). His duty was conducted international survey of nuclear waste management and disposal policies.

In addition, Hidehiko Yamachika has been assigned a couple of times to directors for local development programs.
Rebecca Bittner
Dr. Bittner obtained her B.A. Magna Cum Laude in Chemistry and Zoology at Pomona College, Claremont, CA, followed by her M.D. degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Postgraduate training included research in Pediatric Infectious Disease at the Research and Education Institute (now called the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute) at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, CA; and a residency in Diagnostic Radiology and a fellowship in Neuroradiology, both at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA. She is a diplomate of the American Board of Radiology.

After 17 years of private practice in the Los Angeles area, Dr. Bittner joined the faculty at GWU in the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology. She is an attending physician in the areas of Body Imaging, Neuroradiology, and Breast Imaging. She is also Associate Program Director of the Diagnostic Radiology Residency Program at the George Washington University Hospital. Her current research interests include developing novel teaching techniques, such as simulation laboratory training, in radiology (in collaboration with the Clinical Learning and Simulation Skills Center of George Washington University Hospital), and research in evidence-based radiology and comparative effectiveness as applied to radiologic topics. Dr. Bittner is a member of the Alliance of Clinician-Educators in Radiology, the Association of University Radiologists and the American College of Radiology.
Michael Podowski
Dr. Michael Podowski is a Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering, and Director of Center for Multiphase Research. His research interests include fundamentals and applications of multiphase flow and heat transfer, computational multiphase flow dynamics (CMFD), dynamics and stability of multiphase systems and nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulics and safety. He is director and PI of the DOE-sponsored GNEP University Consortium for the Deployment of a Suite of High Performance Computational Tools for Multiscale Multiphysics Simulations of Generation-IV Reactors.

Recent and current research initiatives of Dr. Podowski include the following areas:

- advanced nuclear reactors: Supercritical Water Reactor (SCWR), Very High Temperature Gas Reactor (VHTGR), and Fast Sodium Reactor (FSR),
- computational multiphase fluid dynamics (CMFD) capabilities for nuclear reactors,
- fundamental physics of gas/liquid interfacial phenomena,
- stability analysis of BWRs and SCWRs,
- multiphase flow in chemical processing equipment for synthetic fuel production,
- microscale flow filtration systems.

Professor Podowski has about 300 technical publications, including 7 books/book-chapters and nearly 60 journal papers. He is Fellow of American Nuclear Society (ANS).
Philippe Bardet
Philippe Bardet is an assistant professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the George Washington University, where he has joined the faculty in 2010. His research is in the field of experimental fluid mechanics and nuclear thermal hydraulics.  He uses advanced laser diagnostics to interrogate complex flows. He is particularly interested in swirling flow, turbulent free surface heat and mass transfer, in high-temperature heat transfer for next generation nuclear power plants, and multi-phase flow for light water nuclear reactors.
Dr. Bardet holds a PhD in Nuclear Engineering from University of California, Berkeley. He teaches fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and experimental techniques at GWU.