Experience and Perspective on Radiation Dose Registry in Japan

Since 1977, the Radiation Dose Registry Center (RADREC) of the Radiation Effects Association has been operating a central radiation dose registration system for workers at nuclear facilities, funded by nuclear power operators and nuclear plant construction companies. The RADREC operates a central registration database, to which nuclear operators should submit electronic data of dose records once a year. The system also includes issuance of "radiation passbooks" , which record previous doses and the histories of medical examinations and radiation education for each worker, because the contract workers may move from site to site frequently along with their passbook. The registration system for nuclear workers has been well established through more than forty years of experience. As of March 2019, the radiation doses of 665,250 workers are registered in the RADREC database, allowing the dose statistics and the personal radiation dose data used for the Japanese epidemiological study on low-dose radiation effects, which was explained in a previous issue of the Japanese Journal of Health Physics.