Workers at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant exposed to more radiation than expected
[Keep in mind that 250 millisieverts/year is the maximum radiation dose allowed by Japan. Every 100-millisievert exposure increases the risk of cancer by about 1%.] By arevamirpal::laprimavera
30 April 2011 2 workers exceeded 200 milli-sieverts: This number is the total of external and internal exposures, as of the end of March. The reason why TEPCO is now announcing? Well TEPCO didn’t know, because they couldn’t use the whole-body counters that measure the internal radiation at Fukushima I Nuke Power Plant. Why couldn’t the whole-body counters be used? (There are 4 of them at Fukushima I.) Another Mainichi article (in Japanese, 4/30/2011) explains that there was no power at the plant until the end of March so the counters couldn’t be used. By the time the power was finally restored, the air radiation level at the plant had gotten so high that the measurement was rendered irrelevant; even when the radiation was detected by the whole-body counter, they couldn’t distinguish between the internal radiation exposure level and the environmental radiation level. TEPCO finally moved the workers who exceeded 100 milli-sieverts to its Iwaki-City facility and measured the internal radiation there, with the help of Japan Atomic Energy Agency. If TEPCO was so disorganized and rattled with the on-going crisis at Fukushima I and wasn’t paying enough attention for the radiation safety for the workers, wasn’t it the government’s responsibility to ensure the safety of the workers by arranging for the whole-body counters and doing the testing, much, much sooner? (Oh I forgot. This is the government who said it was basically TEPCO’s problem to find enough food, water and blanket for the workers, while it stood by, saying it regretted the situation.) So it suddenly occurred to the government and TEPCO after 6 weeks that they could take the workers off-site and have them tested? Just criminal. Mainichi Shinbun reports the news, but no other major newspapers like Yomiuri or Asahi do. Or maybe they do but I can’t readily find the news as they are busy with the British royal wedding. …３月末までに１００ミリシーベルトを超える外部被ばくをした２１人について、優先的に内部被ばくを測定した。２００ミリシーベルトを超えた作業員 は、３月２４日に３号機のタービン建屋で電源復旧作業中に被ばくし、病院に搬送された３人の協力会社社員のうちの２人。最も被ばく線量が高かった作業員 は、外部被ばく２０１．８ミリシーベルト、内部被ばく３９ミリシーベルトで、計２４０．８ミリシーベルトだった。現在、残る１人の作業員と共に同原発での 作業はしていない。 TEPCO measured the internal radiation exposure of the 21 workers whose external radiation exposure exceeded 100 milli-sieverts by the end of March. The two workers whose total radiation exposure exceeded 200 milli-sieverts are two of the three workers from TEPCO’s affiliate companies who were irradiated in the Reactor 3 turbine building [in the highly radioactive water] on March 24 as they were performing the electrical work to restore the power and were sent to hospital. One of them suffered 201.8 milli-sieverts external exposure, and 39 milli-sieverts internal exposure, the total 240.8 milli-sieverts. The two workers no longer work at Fukushima I Nuke Plant. ２１人のうち、合計２００～１５０ミリシーベルトが８人、１５０～１００ミリシーベルトは１１人だった。 Of 21 workers [who exceeded 100 milli-sieverts], 8 had 150 to 200 milli-sieverts, 11 had 100 to 150 milli-sieverts. [And 2 exceeded 200 milli-sieverts.] …
#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: 2 Workers Exceeded 200 Milli-Sieverts
