title: Radiation occupational health interventions offered to radiation workers in response to the complex catastrophic disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
abstract: The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) 1 was severely damaged from the chain reaction of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami on 11 March 2011, and the consequent meltdown and hydrogen gas explosions. This resulted in the worst nuclear accident since the Chernobyl accident of 1986. Just as in the case of Chernobyl, emergency workers were recruited to conduct a wide range of tasks, including disaster response, rescuing activities, NPP containment, and radiation decontamination. This paper describes the types and efficacy of the various occupational health interventions introduced to the Fukushima NPP radiation workers. Such interventions were implemented in order to prevent unnecessary radiation overexposure and associated adverse health effects and work injuries. Less than 1% of all emergency workers were exposed to external radiation of >100 mSv, and to date no deaths or health adversities from radiation have been reported for those workers. Several occupational health interventions were conducted, including setting of new regulatory exposure limits, improving workers' radiation dosimetry, administration of stable iodine, running an occupational health tracking system, and improving occupational medicine and preventative care. Those interventions were not only vital for preventing unnecessary radiation, but also for managing other general health issues such as mental health, heat illness and infectious diseases. Long-term administration of the aforementioned occupational health interventions is essential to ensure the ongoing support and care for these workers, who were put under one of the most severe occupational health risk conditions ever encountered.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, National Institute of Public Health, 2-3-6 Minami, Wako, Saitama 351-0197, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsutomu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shimura
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, National Institute of Public Health, 2-3-6 Minami, Wako, Saitama 351-0197, Japan.
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, National Institute of Public Health, 2-3-6 Minami, Wako, Saitama 351-0197, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Terada
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Environmental Health Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
authors.forename: Kengo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okuda
authors.affiliation: Department of Global Environmental Health Sciences, Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
authors.forename: Erik Robert
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Svendsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Health, National Institute of Public Health, 2-3-6 Minami, Wako, Saitama 351-0197, Japan kunugita@niph.go.jp.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kunugita
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration; D062406:Fukushima Nuclear Accident; D007564:Japan; D055848:Nuclear Power Plants; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control; D016272:Occupational Health; D000069079:Radiation Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control; D011832:Radiation Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000379:methods
keywords: Fukushima; nuclear disaster; occupational radiation exposure; public health; radioprotection