●  J-PARC "Safety Day": Workshop 5.23 for Fostering Safety Culture (May 25) "Safety is Disney Resort's Priority", a speech by Hidemi Ishizaka       To remember the lessons learned in the radioactive material leak accident (2013 May 23rd ) at the Hadron Experimental Facility and to remind us of our determination to keep J-PARC a safe facility, J-PARC has held Workshop 5.23 for Fostering Safety Culture every year around the day of the accident. Starting this fiscal year, "Safety Day" was added as "the day J-PARC prioritizes safety". On that morning, a meeting was held to exchange safety information, and in the afternoon, Workshop 5.23 for Fostering Safety Culture was held. The auditorium of the Nuclear Science Research Institute was the main venue for the afternoon's workshop. A TV conference, linking KEK (High Energy Accelerator Research Organization) Tsukuba Campus and KEK Tokai Campus, was set up, and Hidemi Ishizaka, president of Improving Service & Peace, gave a speech "Safety is Disney Resort's Priority." Mr. Ishizaka worked at Tokyo Disney Resort for 15 years being an attraction supervisor and held other positions. Mr. Ishizaka talked about safety efforts by sharing his experience, safety devices used for various attractions, and stories from the evacuation drills at Tokyo Disney Resort. First of all, workers' smile is vital to maintain safety, he said. Thus, fostering a friendly atmosphere will lead to a safe working environment. Many people in the audience were nodding to this in agreement and raised many questions, such as how the managers (in Tokyo Disney Resort) listened to voices from the workplace and incorporated their suggestions. And, they looked eager to try out what they learned right away. His lecture impressed many people.       In addition, a safety information exchange meeting was held at the J-PARC research building. This meeting included: a report on examples of near misses and good cases from the last fiscal year, an introduction to educational training, a report on safety measures at the Hadron Experimental Facility, a Safety Science Talk, which reflected on the accident by looking at radiation measurements, and more. In reporting the good case examples, sections with many good reports were given recognition. This meeting increased understanding and cooperation between sections, working toward a safe J-PARC.    * Click here to enlarge. ▲to Page Top

●  Information exchange meeting for the JAEA and SCK·CEN cooperation to develop accelerator-driven systems (May 17-18, J-PARC research building etc.)       The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) and the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK·CEN) are jointly developing accelerator-driven systems (ADS) for a reduction of high level radioactive waste. An ADS uses liquid Pb-Bi for a neutron-producing target (spallation target) and a coolant, therefore, developing techniques for handling this material is a critical issue. Drs. Alexander Aerts and Jun Lim, both from SCK·CEN and specializing in liquid Pb-Bi handling techniques, came to Japan and participated in the information exchange meeting with JAEA's researchers on nuclear transmutation. There were reports on the MYRRHA (accelerator driven multi-purpose hybrid research reactor) program in progress in Belgium, and related R&D programs. Also, both organizations discussed the latest news on a study of oxygen concentration control in liquid Pb-Bi, the current R&D of ADSs in J-PARC, as well as their continued cooperation in the future.    * Click here to enlarge.    ▲to Page Top

●  Participated in the Interactions.org meeting for promoting communications between particle physics laboratories (May11-12, Holland)       Interactions.org is a network of particle physics laboratory public relations. Such laboratories, for example the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) and European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), promote particle physics research. On May 11th and 12th, its regular meeting was held at the Dutch National Institute for Subatomic Physics (Nikhef) in Holland. This year, public relations personnel from 17 laboratories from all over the world met, including representatives from CERN and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) in the U.S, as well as the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) from Russia and the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) from China. They gave reports on their communication efforts in each laboratory organization. J-PARK reported on the T2K experiment progress and its public relations plans. Additionally, the participants discussed effective communication strategies for particle physics research and future collaboration strategies among the organizations.    * Click here to enlarge.    ▲to Page Top

●  J-PARC gives its first round-table conference with press (April 27, J-PARC)       Starting this fiscal year, J-PARC Center will hold "J-PARC round-table conference with press" several times annually for media organizations in order to show the "Latest J-PARC" while giving tours of our research facilities. On April 27th, we had our first conference attended by 10 journalists from 7 media organizations from in and out of Ibaraki prefecture. First in the conference, the J-PARC Director, Naohito Saito, gave his speech. Mr.Saito explained about research at J-PARC, which included material science that has contributed to developments of fuel cells and new rubber materials for tires, as well as particle/nuclear physics, such as T2K (Tokai to Kamioka) experiments for understanding neutrino oscillation. Following the speech, journalists were given a tour of the material/life science laboratory, the neutrino monitoring building, and the Hadron Experimental Facility. After listening to each researcher's detailed explanation about the experiment they conducted, some journalists were asking questions with interest.    * Click here to enlarge.    ▲to Page Top

●  J-PARC Hello Science "Neutrino Solves the Ultimate Cosmic Mystery" (Tokai Industry and Information Plaza (iVil), April 28)       Since last December, J-PARC Center has held events, titled "Hello Science", to promote friendly exchanges between researchers and locals. This April, we began a science cafe, hoping to provide more casual exposures to science, and relocated the venue to Tokai Industry and Information Plaza (iVil). The theme we picked for this time was the neutrino. Sho Tada from J-PARC Center Neutrino Section group gave a talk on T2K experiments, in which neutrinos are shot out from Tokai Village to Super Kamiokande in Kamioka-cho in Gifu prefecture. J-PARC has been conducting such experiments in a quest to closely study neutrino oscillation phenomena. Many participants of various ages listened with enthusiasm to Mr. Tada's fascinating lecture.       ∗Sponsored by：Tokai Village/ Tokai Village Board of Education    * Click here to enlarge.    ▲to Page Top

●  Painting Trial Class on Japanese Mask（May 26th, KEK Tokai Dormitory）       J-PARC Center offered a Japanese fox mask painting class, in conjunction with the T2K experiments collaboration meetings, which opened on May 22nd. The meetings drew many researchers from all over the world, and 24 people, including collaborating researchers from overseas, joined the mask painting class. Instructed by staff assistants, the participants painted their own fox faces on paper mache and completed unique and original masks. It took about an hour for painting, and many of these fox masks had a personality of their own.    * Click here to enlarge.    ▲to Page Top

●  J-PARC open facility will be on Sunday August 20th 2017!       J-PARC Center will have an open facility again this year. We will be updating the J-PARC’s website with full information, including events on that day. We hope many of you will visit us.    ▲to Page Top