The Chernobyl nuclear accident and more recently the Fukushima accident highlighted that the largest source of error on consequences assessment is the source term including the time evolution of the release rate and its distribution between radioisotopes. Inverse modeling methods, which combine environmental measurements and atmospheric dispersion models, have proven efficient in assessing source term due to an accidental situation (Gudiksen, 1989; Krysta and Bocquet, 2007; Stohl et al., 2012a; Winiarek et al., 2012). Most existing approaches are designed to use air sampling measurements (Winiarek et al., 2012) and some of them also use deposition measurements (Stohl et al., 2012a; Winiarek et al., 2013) but none of them uses dose rate measurements. However, it is the most widespread measurement system, and in the event of a nuclear accident, these data constitute the main source of measurements of the plume and radioactive fallout during releases. This paper proposes a method to use dose rate measurements as part of an inverse modeling approach to assess source terms. <br><br> The method is proven efficient and reliable when applied to the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (FD-NPP). The emissions for the eight main isotopes <sup>133</sup>Xe, <sup>134</sup>Cs, <sup>136</sup>Cs, <sup>137</sup>Cs, <sup>137m</sup>Ba, <sup>131</sup>I, <sup>132</sup>I and <sup>132</sup>Te have been assessed. Accordingly, 103 PBq of <sup>131</sup>I, 35.5 PBq of <sup>132</sup>I, 15.5 PBq of <sup>137</sup>Cs and 12 100 PBq of noble gases were released. The events at FD-NPP (such as venting, explosions, etc.) known to have caused atmospheric releases are well identified in the retrieved source term. The estimated source term is validated by comparing simulations of atmospheric dispersion and deposition with environmental observations. The result is that the model-measurement agreement for all of the monitoring locations is correct for 80% of simulated dose rates that are within a factor of 2 of the observed values. Changes in dose rates over time have been overall properly reconstructed, especially in the most contaminated areas to the northwest and south of the FD-NPP. A comparison with observed atmospheric activity concentration and surface deposition shows that the emissions of caesiums and <sup>131</sup>I are realistic but that <sup>132</sup>I and <sup>132</sup>Te are probably underestimated and noble gases are likely overestimated. Finally, an important outcome of this study is that the method proved to be perfectly suited to emergency management and could contribute to improve emergency response in the event of a nuclear accident.