With regard to the above subject, a notification entitled Re: Actions to be taken in the area within a 20-kilometer radius from the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Occupational Safety and Health Department Notification No. 0517-1, 17 May 2011) and a policy paper entitled Interpretation and application of the permission standard on temporary entry (entry for the public interest) to the restricted area (Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters, 16 June 2011; hereafter referred to as the “Interpretations”) were issued as shown in Annex 1. In order to prevent health impairment by radiation exposure of workers whose entry was permitted in accordance with the Interpretations, it has been concluded that the following matters should be ensured. It is desired that nothing goes amiss in providing relevant employers on the site with instructions on how to act accordingly.
It should be noted that the same content of this notification has been sent to the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture as per Annex 2.
16 June 2011
Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters
The Permission standard on temporary entry to the restricted area (Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters, 23 April 2011) states that the temporary entry to the area of those persons whose non-entry would significantly affect the public interest shall be permitted on a case-by-case basis, with conditions associated with the entry, by the municipal mayor after having discussions with the Director of Nuclear Emergency Response Onsite Headquarters (Article 2 (1) of the Permission standard).
Operation of businesses in areas that are located within a 20 kilometers from the nuclear power plant by employers who were permitted temporary entry to the restricted area by applying the Permission standard would not ensure a certain distance from the nuclear power plant, and could cause a situation that evacuation is difficult and also their employees may be suddenly exposed to radiation within a short period of time, in the case of a worsening of the plant conditions, that could lead to an explosion of the plant and release of radioactive materials. Therefore it is not appropriate, in principle, to permit such business operations. The conditional permission is provided in response to the requests from business owners only allowing them to take out their equipment.
However, when, in addition to the permission standard in the public interest, conditions of (1) shown below are entirely satisfied, the temporary entry for the business operation may be permitted as long as the municipal mayor individually makes an arrangement with Director of Nuclear Emergency Response Onsite Headquarters from the perspectives of safety and considering potential benefit gained socially as well as economically by the operation of the business because:
In issuing the permission, the conditions associated with the entry shown in the following (2) need to be satisfied.
The continuing support and understanding of the Office of the Governor in administrating actions of the Occupation Safety and Health Department are gratefully acknowledged.
With regard to the above subject, the notification, Actions to be taken in the area within a 20-kilometers radius from the TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (Occupational Safety and Health Department Notification No. 0517-4, 17 May 2011), was issued. Also the policy paper, Interpretation and application of the permission standard on temporary entry (entry for the public interest) to the restricted area (hereafter referred to as “Interpretations”) (Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters, 16 June 2011) was issued as shown in Annex 1. In order to prevent health impairment due to radiation exposure of workers whose entry was permitted pursuant to the “Interpretations”, a notification (Occupational Safety and Health Department Notification No. 0621-1, 21 June 2011) has been sent to the Director, Fukushima Prefectural Labour Bureau, per Annex 2.
The measures in the notification shall be made known to all the municipalities within Fukushima Prefecture.
(Annex-1 & Annex-2 omitted)