To prevent radiation hazards for workers engaged in works to decontaminate soil and wastes contaminated by radioactive materials discharged by the accident in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) associated with the Tohoku District off the Pacific Ocean Earthquake that occurred on 11 March 2011, works for collecting waste, etc. and works for nuclear accident-derived waste disposal (hereinafter "Decontamination Works"), the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has enforced the Ordinance on Prevention of Ionizing Radiation Hazards at Works to Decontaminate Soil and Wastes Contaminated by Radioactive Materials Resulting from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Related Works (Ordinance of Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) No.152 of 2011; hereinafter "Ionizing Radiation Ordinance for Decontamination") and the Ordinance on Prevention of Ionizing Radiation Hazards (Ordinance of Ministry of Labour No.41 of 1972; hereinafter "Ionizing Radiation Ordinance"), and has also established the Guideline on Prevention of Radiation Hazards for Workers Engaged in Decontamination Works (Labour Standards Bureau Notification No. 1222-6, 22 December 2011), the Guideline on Prevention of Radiation Hazards for Workers Engaged in Works under a Designated Dose Rate (Labour Standards Bureau Notification No. 0615-6, 15 June 2012), and the Guideline on Prevention of Radiation Hazards for Workers Engaged in Nuclear Accident-derived Waste Disposal (Labour Standards Bureau Notification No.0412-6, as of 12 April 2013) and is instructing all those concerned to comply with these ordinances and guidelines properly.
Since the studies of establishing a systematic control organization of the radiation exposure doses of workers engaged in decontamination and related works have been finalized as indicated with the Notification No. 1226-17 dated today, the MHLW has revised the guidelines accordingly as follows. You are strongly requested to make those known to all related contractors, and prefectural and municipal authorities within your district, and properly promote the prevention of radiation hazards during Decontamination Works, in consideration of the following notices.
Meanwhile, you are informed that the Deputy Vice-Minister of the Ministry of the Environment (MOE), the Director-General of the Environmental Management Bureau, the Director-General of the Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the Director-General of the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Research Council of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Director-General of the Reconstruction Agency, and the Vice Secretary General of the Team in Charge of Assisting the Lives of Disaster Victims of the Nuclear Emergency Response Headquarters of the Cabinet Office have been notified as in Attachment 4, that the prefectural governors of Iwate, Miyagi, Yamagata, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Niigata and Shizuoka have been notified as in Attachment 5, and that related employers groups have been notified as in Attachment 6.