Fukushima nuclear workers unsure of internal exposure levels due to equipment shortage – ‘I’ve probably taken in radioactivity while eating’

May 19 (Yomiuri Shimbun) – Nearly two months after the start of the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, only 10 percent of workers there had been tested for internal radiation exposure caused by inhalation or ingestion of radioactive substances, due to a shortage of testing equipment available for them. … A number of personnel working to overcome the nuclear crisis at the facility are increasingly alarmed by their lack of internal exposure testing. Some have said they may have to continue to work at the facility without knowing whether their radiation exposure levels have exceeded the upper limit set by the government. … Internal exposure is caused by taking radioactive substances into the body via eating, drinking or breathing. Its unit, counts per minute (cpm), indicates the amount of radiation emitted per minute. … “My measured value [of radioactive exposure] exceeded the standard value by a double-digit factor. That’s never happened before,” said a plant worker in his 20s, recalling the time he saw the results of a test he took outside Fukushima Prefecture in early May. The man, an employee of a company that works with TEPCO, installed power cables near a reactor building at the plant for a month beginning at the end of March. The test is conducted by a device called a “whole-body counter.” While a normal internal radiation level would range from several hundred cpm to 1,000 cpm, he was told his level was 30,000 cpm. High levels of radiation emitted by debris were measured in his work area. …

Radiation tests lacking / Nuclear plant workers unsure of internal exposure levels