The Shiga Prefectural Government plans to develop a computer system able to simulate the amount and dispersal of radioactive materials that would contaminate Lake Biwa in the event of an accident at one of the nuclear power plants in neighboring Fukui Prefecture.
The system, which the prefecture will start developing in the next fiscal year from April, is a modified version of the central government's System for Prediction of Environmental Emergency Dose Information (SPEEDI), which predicts the volume and spread of radioactive materials in the environment by analyzing the terrain and wind direction.
Shiga Prefecture, the proud home of Lake Biwa, is eager to develop the system and start running simulations as the lake supplies drinking water for 14 million residents in the Keihanshin region, which includes the cities of Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto.