Eight more experts from the NRC are being sent to Japan to help that country respond to its nuclear emergency. They join two other NRC staff who were dispatched Saturday. All NRC staff members are acting as part of a U.S. Agency for International Development assistance team, and are being sent at the request of the Japanese government.
The additional team members include more reactor experts, international affairs professional staffers, and a senior manager from one of the NRC’s four region offices. They come from NRC headquarters and regional offices in King of Prussia, Pa., and Atlanta, Ga.
The team will do whatever is necessary to understand the status of safely shutting down the affected Japanese reactors; better understand the potential impact on people and the environment; and, if asked, provide technical advice and support through the U.S. ambassador.
The team is led by Charles A. Casto, deputy regional administrator of the NRC’s Center of Construction Inspection, and members will be in communication with the Japanese regulator, the U.S. Embassy, NRC headquarters, and other government stakeholders as appropriate.
We’ll keep you up to date on their experiences. They are expected to arrive Wednesday, Japanese time.
Eliot Brenner Public Affairs Director
U.S. NRC Blog 
As a restaurant owner in Portland Oregon its good to know that we are assisting in the response to this crisis.
Well said and agreed. One press conference isn’t going to cut it. I understand that the Chairman cannot counteract every news article with inaccuarcies and omissions, but this is the time to try and calm the fears and irrational notions out there.
Chairman Jaczko gave a press briefing at the White House on Monday. There is a link to the transcript on http://www.whitehouse.gov. Look for media coverage of the Chairman testifying before Congress on Wednesday morning.
According to your blog, the plume that is going around on the internet is totally bogus. Is there one that isn’t, say from NOAA, the National Weather Service or FEMA? Also, I don’t know much about the fallout from one of these nuke releases. Is it a gas or a particulate? Can it be transported in the jet stream like volcanic ash? If it is like a fine particulate, what happens if a particle is inhaled?
To whom it may concern (the whole of NRC),
While sending experts to Tokyo is great for international partnerships, but who is the media getting their information from? I’m a supporter of nuclear energy as a step towards energy independence and a temporary source until better renewable energy becomes available. I’m certainly not an expert, but I do have a BS in physics and have always been interested in nuclear energy and understand the basic principles. Most people however, hate physics and don’t understand nuclear power, yet they still feel free to argue against it. I would urge whoever reads this at the NRC (if you are reading these comments) to step up into the limelight, your country needs you, and not just at press conferences. NRC employees and experts should be the ones on Larry King Live and sharing information with FOXNEWS, ABC, NBC, and CNN. The media is having a hayday with your livelihood, get out there and defend it. At least 90% (completely made-up, but in my experience this is a conservative estimate) of Americans are generally uninformed when it comes to radiation and nuclear power. In fact, I doubt most americans even know that the NRC exists. If someone doesn’t step into the media limelight, nuclear power will be cut much sooner than it should be. I believe it should be your job to educate the American people, as well as the US and state congresses; otherwise who will do it (pundits, politicians, and others who know nothing about nuclear power)? Please, give Larry King a call…
Thanks for providing accurate information here. You stated “Finally, there is a lot of erroneous information in the media and online about this event and its ramifications. One plume model in particular is especially egregious and totally bogus. We urge you to continue to seek information from credible sources, including the NRC and other federal agencies.”
Please provide accurate information to let the public know about the actual level of exposure. More accurate plume models and/or updates on monitoring in regions of concern (NW coast) would be of value. It would be helpful to express them both in mSieverts and also in comparison to common experience (like a chest X-ray, body CT scan, or a trans-Atlantic plane flight).
Please put the time on your reports. A date is fine, but that has a range of 24 hours, much too long to be current on Japan.