The Research Center for Prevention from Radiation Hazards of Workers conducts research on the prevention of health effects in workers caused by exposure to ionizing radiation at work in various industries, including at nuclear power plants, in hospitals with radiational diagnosis and/or therapy, in nondestructive examinations and examinations with any other measuring device, and in disposal work for scrap originating from accidents at nuclear power plants. Investigations include health surveillance of relevant workers, personal monitoring for nuclear workers, and environmental radiation monitoring. The current research project is focused on a long-term epidemiological study of emergency workers engaged in the response to the Fukushima nuclear accidents, in which major effort has been put into the establishment of a systematic health surveillance system. The research group for this project is headed by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, Japan, and it includes the Radiation Effects Research Foundation, which aims to perform a long-term epidemiological study on those exposed to the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki; the National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology; Osaka University, the University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kanazawa Medical University, Jichi Medical University, and Hiroshima University; the Japan Atomic Energy Agency; and Hoshi Hospital, in addition to others, as collaborators. After the first stage of this large project is reached, the Center will be set to introduce the other project listed above in a successive manner.
