Transition of radiation protection standards in ICRP recommendations and Japan's response

Radiation protection standards are the standards set for the purpose of preventing radiation hazard and other damage. This paper confirm what the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) recommended against the standard value on public exposure in Japan's laws and regulations, and how the Japanese government responded in introducing it into Japan's laws and regulations. There were delays of 6 to 12 years for the introduction of ICRP recommendations into the laws and regulations. Compared with response to the copyright treaty, which was extremely quick with the delays of only 1 to 2 years, these delays were very large. In Japan's laws and regulations, there are no regulations on the standard value for public exposure, and introduction of the recommended standard value of 1 mSv/year from ICRP has been avoided by the government. It is supposed that the reason for not introducing radiation dose limit and dose constraint value of public exposure was due to the lobbying of electric companies. After the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident, the former Nuclear Safety Commission set the reference level for emergency exposure situation at 20 mSv/year. Although there is the long-term target of 1 mSv/year for existing exposure, no reference level has been set yet. Due to these delays or avoidances, the rights of people suffering from radiation exposure are restricted, while perhaps the benefits of electric companies are being protected. (A.O.)