Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF), a joint Japan-U.S. research organization in Hiroshima, has opened its facility to the public on Friday to increase knowledge and understanding of the effects of radiation and the center’s research. At the RERF, Japan and the U.S. conduct joint studies of the effects of radiation on the human body. The public viewing will end on Saturday.

A special exhibition at the center explains the health research that started last year involving 20,000 personnel who performed emergency procedures after the nuclear accident at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Visitors can take a tour to see an oversized freezer that stores the blood samples and other specimens of the radiation victims.

Takashi Kurata from Toshima Ward, Tokyo, said, “I realize now that storing samples is important, especially considering the need to determine whether or not there will be radiation effects on the second generation inherited from their parents who were direct victims.”

The RERF was launched in 1975 as a successor to the U.S. Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) established in 1947. The ABCC’s studies have been taken over by the RERF in Hiroshima and another research center in Nagasaki.