Reorganization of advanced radiation emergency medicine systems in Japan after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident

• Published in: Environmental advances 2022-07, Vol.8, p.100197, Article 100197
• Main Authors: Tatsuzaki, Hideo, Kumagai, Atsushi, Fuma, Shoichi, Yamashita, Shunichi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Nuclear emergency; Organization; Radiation emergency medicine; System; Training
• ISSN: 2666-7657; 2666-7657
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envadv.2022.100197

•Japanese organizational system for radiation emergency medicine was re-organized after the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant accident.•Nuclear Emergency Core Hospitals play a central role in medical management of nuclear accidents.•At the national level, two types of Support Centers assist local hospitals.•QST, as the Core Advanced Radiation Emergency Medical Support Center, coordinates the Support Centers and leads educational and training courses in dose estimates and radiation emergency medicine. The Japanese organizational system for radiation emergency medicine was reorganized and strengthened after the Great East Japan Earthquake and the Tokyo Electric Power Company Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident on 11 March 2011. In prefectures with or near nuclear facilities (within a 30 km radius), “nuclear emergency core hospitals”, which have sufficient functions, staff, and facilities, were newly designated after the accident by the prefectural governments. “Nuclear emergency medical cooperative institutions” were also registered in the prefectures. At the national level, these hospitals are assisted by two types of national-level centers, namely “advanced radiation emergency medical support centers” and “nuclear emergency medical support centers”. Additionally, to coordinate these support centers, the NIRS-QST was designated as the “core advanced radiation emergency medical support center” by the Nuclear Regulation Authority in April 2019. The new NIRS-QST Core Center is striving to strengthen our educational and training courses, to improve the contents of educational and training materials, to develop common guidelines/manuals for biological and physical dose measurement and estimation, and cultivate human resources in the field of radiation emergency medicine in Japan.