At the time of Tokyo Electric Power Company’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F) accident on March 11, 2011, many members of Japan Health Physics Society including researchers or radiation workers were involved in 1F accident-related work and research. After that, many 1F accident-related articles were submitted and published in Japanese Journal of Health Physics. The articles covered a wide range of topics such as lessons learned and future challenges, environmental monitoring, dosimetry, risk communication, radiation medicine and radioactive waste. There were about 130 articles related to the 1F accident in the 11 years until December 2021. In March 2022, a working group was established to review articles related to the 1F accident published in this journal. This article provides an overview.

Japan Health Physics Society established a working group to obtain the insights and findings from the articles, which are related to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (1F) accident, published in the Japanese Journal of Health Physics. This paper describes the results of the review on 47 articles, which are classified into the field without risk communication, environmental measurement and monitoring, radiation dose measurement and assessment, radiation medicine and radioactive waste. In the reviewed articles, there are various insights and issues depending on the standpoint of the authors and social interests in the timing those published. It is important to face these insights and issues to consider prudently “what is health physics or radiation protection?” for the future development of the Health Physics society.

The Japanese Journal of Health Physics has published a large number of articles related to the accident at the TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi NPP in March 2011. In these, 13 articles on risk communication have been published up to March 2022. The various issues related to risk communication are not limited to radiation and there is no absolute right answer for each case. The articles presented in this journal, which are based on the experience of experts in the field of radiation protection, may also be seen as a record of the practical issues at the time. Please refer to the original articles.

The Japanese Journal of Health Physics has shown a large number of articles related to the accident at the TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi NPP in March 2011. In these, 39 articles on environmental monitoring have been published up to March 2022. The various issues related to environmental radiation/radioactivity monitoring and decontamination methods were developed after the accident. The articles presented in this journal, which are based on the experience of experts in the field of radiation protection and radioecology, may also be seen as a record of the practical issues at the time. Please refer to the original articles.

The Japanese Journal of Health Physics has shown many articles related to the accident at the TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi NPP in March 2011. In these, 23 articles on dosimetry and dose assessment have been published up to March 2022. The dosimetry data and dose assessment methods reported in these articles are valuable knowledge in considering future radiation monitoring methods at accidents.

Regarding “radiation-exposed medical care and waste” in articles related to the TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident published in “Japanese Journal of Health Physics” magazine, (1) 3 original articles, (2) 1 technical data, (3) 1 special article, (4) 1 50th anniversary article, (5) 1 preface, (6) 3 topics, (7) From Japan to the World (JtoW) were two cases. These articles include the contents related to the system and standards that were established after the accident. Rare experiences such as the fumbling response at the time and the evaluation of samples in the disaster situation are summarized. These materials are valuable records.

Plutonium Fuel Fabrication Facility of Plutonium Fuel Development Center, JAEA is in the phase of maintenance and decommissioning. We have been dismantling alpha contaminated gloveboxes for over 20 years. The wet recovery equipment gloveboxes that are used to recover plutonium and uranium from scrap fuel were chosen as the priority gloveboxes to be dismantled. These gloveboxes and other gloveboxes in the same room have been size reduced and removed by 2023. We also dismantled non-radioactive ancillary facilities and non-radioactive giant gloveboxes from 2007 to 2010. This made enough space to dismantle contaminated gloveboxes and store resulting wastes that follow. Several incidents occurred in these 20 years, and we took recurrence prevention measures on each occasion. Thus, the dismantling activities became safer and well organized as the work progresses. In this report, we review and summarize the dismantling activities and the lessons we have learned for the past years. In addition, we show radiological control measures we adopted and implemented.

When severe contamination incidents occur in plutonium fuel handling facilities, containment tents are assembled to contain alpha-emitting radionuclides from spreading and rescue workers for evacuation with necessary decontamination. However, the time to assemble the conventional containment tents is too long, and the inhalation risk is proportionately high. Inadequacies in tent structures were also recognized. Therefore, we developed new containment tents that are more easily assembled and function effectively, by improving and refurbishing the shortcomings of conventional tents. The new tents were evaluated in an airborne contamination situation at the plutonium fuel fabricating facility. The tents appropriately functioned for the intended use, but other shortcomings emerged, therefore, we modified the tent structure. The new features of the developed and modified tents can be summarized as follows: 1. The time to assemble the set of tents is significantly reduced from two hours to half an hour. 2. Multiple evacuation pathways can be arranged by adding a new passage tent with zippers on all the side surfaces. 3. Various layouts can be arranged by changing the tent connection method. The tents could be used for similar but wider alpha-emitting radioactive particulate handling facilities.