Suggestions to Improve the Effectiveness of National Radiological Emergency Response System

Although the national radiological emergency response system has been improved by incorporating lessons from the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident and recent domestic natural disasters, it has not fully incorporated these lessons. In addition, it cannot deal with a variety of aftermath of the radiological disaster. Even for the same disaster, the national emergency response system should comply with multiple domestic laws in our country. Furthermore, there are a few discrepancies between the articles of the domestic laws that the national radiological emergency response system should address. Therefore, this study investigates the characteristics of radiological disasters, examines articles on the domestic laws related to the national radiological emergency response system, and analyses the Japanese government’s responses to the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident. Based on the results of the review, suggestions for the improvement of the national radiological emergency response system in terms of response organization and framework have been proposed in this study.