Yokoyama, Nabatame, Suzuki, and Iimoto: Review of Articles Related to the Accident of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station Published in the Japanese Journal of Health Physics: Overview (Secondary Publication)
Abstract
During the Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F) accident on March 11, 2011, many members of the Japan Health Physics Society, including researchers and radiation workers, were involved in 1F accident-related work. The resulting articles covered a wide range of topics such as lessons learned and future challenges, risk communication, environmental monitoring, dosimetry, radiation medicine, and radioactive waste. In March 2022, a working group was established to review the articles related to the 1F accident published in the Japanese Journal of Health Physics. This article shows the types and number of 1F-related articles published in this journal over a period of about 10 years.
Keywords: TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, Accident, Japanese Journal of Health Physics, Articles Relating to 1F-Accident, Overview
Introduction
The Japanese Journal of Health Physics [ 1] has been published by the Japan Health Physics Society since 1966. More than 2,000 original papers and articles related to radiation safety and protection, including those on the biological effects of radiation, environmental radioactivity, radiation safety engineering, radiation measurements, and radiation control techniques, have been published in this journal. Additionally, international trends in radiation protection were introduced.
Since 2011, many members of the society have been directly or indirectly involved in supporting the accident at Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO)’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F) as experts and researchers of radiation protection. The knowledge and experience of the accident responses have been submitted and published in the Japanese Journal of Health Physics [ 2– 7].
The articles covered a wide range of fields such as general lessons and learned issues for accident response, measurements, dosimetry, and social science topics. The article categories are also wide, such as ‘original paper,’ ‘review,’ ‘technical data,’ ‘notes,’ ‘foreword,’ and ‘special articles.’ In 10 years, from April 2011 to December 2021, more than 130 related articles were published, providing a great deal of knowledge and lessons learned regarding nuclear disaster responses, dose reconstructions, and environmental recovery. These useful data and reports must be condensed for easy access.
Therefore, in March 2022, a working group was established to review articles related to the 1F accident ( Table 1) and compile an overview of these articles. Working group members extracted, classified, and summarized the articles. This paper reports the results as an overall summary. We have also published related papers in the Japanese Journal of Health Physics.
Extraction and Classification of Related Articles
1. Article Extraction
Categories were classified and selected for articles published from volume 46, issue 3 (September 2011) to volume 56, issue 4 (December 2021) of the Japanese Journal of Health Physics. A total of 134 articles were extracted.
2. Classification by Article Type
The article categories of the Japanese Journal of Health Physics are shown in the submission guide [ 8]. The articles written in Japanese are divided into eight categories: gencho ronbun (original paper), note (note), kaisetsu (review), gijutsu shiryo (technical data), report (report), letter (letter), houkoku, and wadai (topic). The English articles are classified into seven categories: original paper, note, review, technical data, report, letter, and topic. A comparison between the English and Japanese articles is shown in Table 2. The Japanese categories other than ‘houkoku’ correspond to English ones. The Japanese category ‘houkoku’ is similar to English category ‘report’; thus, these articles were classified as ‘report.’ There are other article categories not listed in the guide, such as ‘foreword,’ ‘Japan to the World (JtoW),’ ‘Radiation Protection in the World (RPW),’ and ‘special articles’ requested by the editorial board. ‘JtoW’ is an article written in English, including reprints, and its purpose is to introduce Japanese research and technology to the world. The category, ‘RPW’ is a Japanese translation and reprint to introduce efforts related to radiation protection by international and other countries organizations to Japan. ‘Special articles’ were published from September 2011 to March 2012 in the Japanese Journal of Health Physics 2011 volume 46 issues 3 and 4, and 2012 volume 47 issue 1. Additionally, in 2015, members of the society contributed special articles celebrating the 50 th anniversary publication of the Japanese Journal of Health Physics. In these articles, the local government introduced an index of food intake restrictions before the 1F accident. The articles were classified as follows (Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of English articles): foreword 21 (5), original paper 14 (3), review 8 (1), technical data 11 (4), report 7 (4), topic 21 (17), special articles 24 (all in Japanese), JtoW 19 (all in English), and others 9 (note 5 (1), RPW 2, 50 th anniversary article 1). Fig. 1 shows the percentage of articles in each category relative to the total number of articles. There were articles in all the categories. Particularly, there were many special articles (24) and JtoW (19). This indicates that information related to the 1F accident countermeasures was disseminated globally. The percentages of articles published in Japanese and English were 73% and 27%, respectively. Many English articles were in the JtoW category. English articles also include forewords, original papers, reviews, and technical data contributed by researchers from other countries.
3. Classification by Article Content
The articles were classified into five categories based on relevant content. The five categories were: (1) opinion and others, (2) risk communication, (3) environmental monitoring, (4) dosimetry and dose assessment, and (5) radiation medicine and radioactive waste.
(1) Opinion and others included articles summarizing the accident, standards for protective measures, social impact, accident response, and personal opinions.
(2) Risk communication included reports on participation in meetings and symposiums held by local governments, national and international academic societies, and interactive communication between radiation protection experts and the public (questions and answers) on physical sites and websites.
(3) Environmental monitoring included articles on the analysis, measurements, and development of measurement techniques for environmental radionuclides, contamination and decontamination of radionuclides, and the air dose rate. Some articles were concerned only with environmental measurements, whereas others were concerned with dose estimation and analysis based on environmental measurement results.
(4) Dosimetry and dose assessment included measurements of the external dose rate from 137Cs contained in contaminated soil, internal dose monitoring for the oral intake of food and agricultural products, and personal dose monitoring from the aspect of radiation control for radiation workers and the public.
(5) Radiation medicine and radioactive waste included articles on decommissioning of nuclear reactors and those that could not be classified into (1) to (4).
For these articles and their authors, titles, volume numbers, year of publication, and article category, see the appendix on the website of the Japanese Journal of Health Physics, which is attached (in Japanese) [ 2]. Fig. 2 shows the percentages for each category.
4. Number of Related Articles for Each Category
Fig. 3 shows the number of articles in each category. The total number of articles published in 2011 and 2012 were 19 and 31, respectively, the latter being the highest number between 2011 and 2021. From 2013 to 2018, approximately 10 articles were published annually. In 2021, only a few articles were published.
In 2012, the number of ‘opinion and others’ and ‘dosimetry and dose assessment’ articles was almost the same. Most forewords published from September 2011 (in the Japanese Journal of Health Physics 2011 volume 46 issues 3) to December 2012 (in the Japanese Journal of Health Physics 2012 volume 47 issues 1–4) were concerned about accidents. The authors of the forewords were experts who were deeply involved in the accident, including the president of the Japan Health Physics Society, the Japanese government, university officials, and presidents of relevant overseas academic societies.
From 2011 to 2012, many general reviews were special articles contributed by members of society. After 2016, the number of original papers and technical data that analyze the accumulated data has increased.
Many original papers in the category of environmental measurement and behavior were submitted before the accident. Even after the accident, it is noteworthy that several articles, such as original papers and technical data, have been submitted with a certain number of submissions each year.
Numerous articles have been published in the JtoW category. There are many articles on environmental measurement and behavior analysis; however, dosimetry (dose measurement and assessment), food contamination, and decommissioning measures have also been introduced. This means that the society played a role as a source of information on the accident response in Japan.
Conclusion
This paper presents an overview of the articles related to the TEPCO 1F accident published in the Japanese Journal of Health Physics from September 2011 to December 2021. Related articles include original papers and other articles. The different backgrounds and age groups of the authors are important points to note. A list of related articles published over the last decade shows an accumulation of knowledge. Recently, there have been some articles on related research and the development of technology from a broader perspective based on an analysis of the accident. We hope that these related articles will be effectively utilized in the future, leading to research and development of technologies for radiation protection.
Additionally, summarizing these related articles resulted in a review of 10 years of the Japanese Journal of Health Physics. During this period, the Journal of Radiation Protection and Research [ 9], the official joint publication of the Korean Association for Radiation Protection, Japan Health Physics Society, and Australian Radiation Protection Society, was established in September 2019. Opportunities for dissemination of information overseas have also increased. The response to the 1F accident was of great interest overseas. We hope that the information collected will be used effectively.
Acknowledgements
This article is based on an article first reported in the Japanese Journal of Health Physics 2023;58(2):37–49.
References
2. Yokoyama S, Nabatame K, Suzuki A, Iimoto T. Review of articles related to the accident of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station published on Japanese Journal of Health Physics: overview of published articles. Jpn J Health Phys. 2023;58(2):37-49.
3. Takahara S, Iimoto T, Igarashi T, Kawabata M. Review of articles related to the accident of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station published on Japanese Journal of Health Physics: opinion and others. Jpn J Health Phys. 2023;58(2):50-58.
4. Iimoto T, Kato M, Hamada N, Maeda T, Yoshida A. Review of articles related to the accident of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station published on Japanese Journal of Health Physics: risk communication. Jpn J Health Phys. 2023;58(2):59-62.
5. Iwaoka K, Shimada Y, Suzuki A, Hosoda M. Review of articles related to the accident of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station published on Japanese Journal of Health Physics: environment monitoring. Jpn J Health Phys. 2023;58(2):63-68.
6. Kato M, Yoshida A, Yamanishi H. Review of articles related to the accident of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station published on Japanese Journal of Health Physics: dosimetry and dose assessment. Jpn J Health Phys. 2023;58(2):69-72.
7. Fujibuchi T, Iwaoka K, Shimada Y, Nabatame K. Review of articles related to the accident of TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station published on Japanese Journal of Health Physics: radiation medicine, radioactive waste. Jpn J Health Phys. 2023;58(2):73-75.
9. Korean Association for Radiation Protection. Journal of Radiation Protection and Research [Internet]. JRPR; 2024 [cited 2024 Aug 22]. Available from: http://jrpr.org
Fig. 1
Percentage of articles for each category.
Fig. 2
Percentage of each article content.
Fig. 3
Number of articles published by year.
Table 1
Members List of the 1F Accident-Related Article Working Group
|
Name |
Affiliation |
Chair |
Sumi Yokoyama |
Fujita Health University (currently Nagasaki University) |
|
Vice chair |
Takeshi Iimoto |
The University of Tokyo |
|
Secretary |
Kuniaki Nabatame |
Fujita Corporation (currently Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd.) |
|
Member |
Takayuki Igarashi |
International University of Health and Welfare |
|
Kazuki Iwaoka |
National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology |
|
Masahiro Kato |
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology |
|
Masako Kawabata |
Chiyoda Technol Corporation |
|
Yoko Shimada |
Kyoto University |
|
Akira Suzuki |
Radiation Effects Association |
|
Shogo Takahara |
Japan Atomic Energy Agency |
|
Nobuyuki Hamada |
Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry |
|
Toshioh Fujibuchi |
Kyushu University |
|
Masahiro Hosoda |
Hirosaki University |
|
Hirokuni Yamanishi |
Kindai University |
|
Akira Yoshida |
Nippon RayTech Co. Ltd. |
|
Observer |
Tsuyoshi Maeda |
Japan Atomic Energy Agency |
Table 2
Comparison Table between Japanese and English Articles
|
Japanese article category |
English article category |
Article classification specified in the submission guide |
Gencho ronbun |
Original paper |
Note |
Note |
Kaisetsu |
Review |
Shiryo |
Technical data |
Report |
Report |
Letter |
Letter |
Houkoku |
- |
Wadai |
Topic |
|
Others (requested articles etc.) |
Kantohgen |
Foreword |
- |
JtoW |
RPW |
- |
Special article |
- |
50th anniversary article |
- |
|
|