Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

4 June, 2014
Office for Radiation Protection of Workers,
Industrial Safety and Health Department
Labour Standards Bureau

To the press

Policies for Epidemiological Studies Targeting Emergency Workers at the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Have Been Compiled

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) has compiled a report of the Expert Meeting on Epidemiological Studies Targeting Emergency Workers at the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (chaired by Mr. Toshiteru Okubo, Chairman of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation).

For emergency work at the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi NPP, the emergency exposure limit was raised from 100mSv to 250mSv during the period from March 14 to December 16, 2011. During this period, approximately 20,000 workers engaged in emergency work, out of which 174 workers were exposed to radiation exceeding 100mSv, which is the upper limit for five years for workers engaging in normal work. As there is a fear that these emergency workers may suffer health hazards due to radiation in the future, the MHLW has built a database for long-term health care, which accumulates exposure doses and other data, and has been managing such workers' health on a long-term basis, based on the MHLW Minister's guidelines.*

Since February 2014, this Meeting has discussed how to make plans for epidemiological studies targeting emergency workers concerning the effects of radiation on human health. As a result, mainly the following were presented as matters to be noted in establishing plans for epidemiological studies.

Major Suggestions in the Report

  1. Study targets
    All of the 20,000 emergency workers should be covered and the study period should last throughout the respective workers' lifetimes.
  2. Exposure factors to be examined
    (1)
    The fundamental purpose is to examine the effects of cumulative doses on human health. When further examining health effects of short-term exposure or exposure dose by organ, small groups should be set up among the entirety of the study targets.
    (2)
    Psychological effects should also be examined.
  3. Study methods
    4. (1)
    Prospective cohort study (a method to follow a group of study targets throughout their lifetimes)
    (2)
    Study targets are suggested to visit a medical institution for a detailed examination or receive health guidance as necessary.
    (3)
    All analysis results, including those showing no statistically significant difference, are to be publicized.
  4. Follow up and maintenance of the target group
    The target group should be followed up on and maintained by utilizing the survey of the current state being conducted by the MHLW in the course of managing the database for long-term health care.
 

* Guidelines on Maintaining and Improving the Health of Emergency Workers at the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Guidelines Publication No. 5, dated October 11, 2011)

In response to this report, the MHLW started to conduct baseline studies targeting 10% of the entire target group (approx. 2,000 emergency workers) this fiscal year in preparation for full-fledged studies from FY2015 onward.

   

Attachment

  1. Outline of the Report PDF 69KB
  2. Report of the Expert Meeting on Epidemiological Studies Targeting Emergency Workers at the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant PDF 211KB
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