The Tohoku ILC Planning Office (Director: Atsuto Suzuki, president of Iwate Prefectural University) held seminars in Ichinoseki and Oshu on March 17th about the ILC and various safety precautions that will be put in place at the facility.

At the Ohara Citizen’s Center in Ohara, Ichinoseki, 110 people were in attendance. Jun Sasaki (head of the Iwate Prefectural ILC Promotion Office and also head of the Regional Planning Group at the Tohoku ILC Planning Office) gave a talk about the recent developments in the ILC project. Dr. Shinichiro Michizono of Japan’s High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK, in Tsukuba, Ibaraki) along with two other professors gave talks about the technology behind the project.

After particles are done being accelerated during experiments, they will be absorbed by a “beam dump” that will emit some radiation in the form of tritium. Responding to a question from the audience, the researchers said, “We will have multiple safety measures in place to close off the few areas affected, including a system to prevent water leakage.”

Responding to fears about earthquakes, they said, “When you’re within the earth, you feel much less shaking that above the earth, and the ILC will be built to withstand strong earthquakes. The ILC beam will also cease during power outages.”

A company worker of Ichinoseki who attended the seminar said, “I was satisfied with the some of their proposed safety measures. I hope they continue to create more opportunities to hear about this.”

The Tohoku ILC Planning Office an organization working under the Tohoku ILC Promotion Council. They also held a seminar at the Oshu City Esashi branch office in Esashi, where 40 people attended.