Fukushima nuclear plant subcontractor orders workers to falsify radiation exposure
By arevamirpal::laprimavera
20 July 2012 Mr. Tomohiko Suzuki, journalist who went to work at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant last year to report how it really was in the plant, said the workers use a variety of ways to lower (i.e., fake) the radiation exposure as measured by their dosimeters. One of the ways is to simply hand the dosimeter to a person who is not entering the high-radiation areas; another way is to flip the dosimeter in the pocket so that it won’t measure radiation as much. Here’s a new one, decidedly more effective. A subcontractor in Namie-machi, Fukushima who contracts work from one of the 1st-tier TEPCO subcontractors supposedly told its workers to cover their dosimeters with lead plates when working at the plant last year. Asahi Shinbun reveals in the article below (7/21/2012) that the paper obtained the recording of the company’s executive telling workers to do so:線量計に鉛板、東電下請けが指示 原発作業で被曝偽装 Lead plate on dosimeter, a TEPCO subcontractor instructed the workers to fake radiation exposure at the plant 東京電力が発注した福島第一原発の復旧工事で、下請け会社の役員が昨年１２月、厚さ数ミリの鉛のカバーで放射線の線量計を覆うよう作業員に指示していたことがわかった。法令で上限が決まっている作業員の被曝（ひばく）線量を少なく見せかける偽装工作とみられる。朝日新聞の取材に、複数の作業員が鉛カバーを装着して作業したことを認めた。役員は指示したことも装着したことも否定している。厚生労働省は、労働安全衛生法に違反する疑いがあるとして調査を始めた。 It has been revealed that a senior executive of a subcontractor instructed its workers to cover their dosimeters with lead plates several millimeters thick for the work ordered by TEPCO for the restoration of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant last December. It was done to disguise the radiation exposure levels of the workers, whose upper limit is set by the regulations. More than one worker has admitted to Asahi Shinbun that they worked with the lead cover over their dosimeters. The senior executive denies that he ever instructed the workers and that the lead cover was used. 朝日新聞は、福島県の中堅建設会社である下請け会社「ビルドアップ」の役員（５４）が偽装工作したことを示す録音記録を入手した。昨年１２月２日夜、作業員の宿舎だった福島県いわき市の旅館で、役員とのやりとりを作業員が携帯電話で録音していた。 Asahi Shinbun has obtained the recording that shows a senior executive (age 54) of the subcontractor “Build Up”, which is a medium-sized construction company in Fukushima Prefecture. The exchange between the executive and the workers took place at night on December 2 last year, at a ryokan [Japanese-style hotel, inn] in Iwaki City in Fukushima where the workers were staying. One of the workers recorded the exchange with his cellphone. 役員はその前日、作業チーム約１０人に対し、胸ポケットに入るほどの大きさの線量計「ＡＰＤ」を鉛カバーで覆うよう指示した。だが３人が拒んだため、２日夜に会社側３人と話し合いがもたれた。役員は録音内容を否定するが、この場にいた複数の作業員が事実関係を認めている。 On the previous day, the executive had told the team of 10 workers to cover their pocket-sized dosimeter “APD” with lead cover. 3 workers had refused. So on the night of December 2 a talk was held between the company [the executive] and the 3 workers. The executive denies what’s in the recording, but more than one worker who were at the scene confirms the facts. […]
Two levels removed, TEPCO sits pretty with plausible deniability. TEPCO doesn’t force any subcontractors to fake the radiation levels. The subcontractors themselves do, each deciding what is best for the company in order to secure the work for the workers and to get the job done. No one investigates TEPCO. No one will, as it is now practically owned by the national government. The nuclear power plants in Japan have been supported by the companies like this Namie-machi subcontractor. Without them, there would have been no nuclear power plant, anywhere in Japan. And now, without them, there will soon be no skilled workers at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. And who is going to decommission all the other nuclear power plants in Japan? Decommissioning the plants cannot happen all at the same time. […]
Tokyo, 22 July 2012 (CNN) – Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is investigating a report that workers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were told to use lead covers in order to hide unsafe radiation levels, an official said. The alleged incident happened December 1, nine months after a major earthquake and tsunami ravaged northern Japan and damaged the plant. “We’ll firmly deal with the matter once the practice is confirmed to constitute a violation of any law,” said the ministry official, who could not be named in line with policy. An official with the plant’s operator, TEPCO, said the company received a report of the alleged incident Thursday from subcontractor Tokyo Energy & Systems. The report said a second subcontractor, Build-Up, created the lead covers and ordered workers to use them over their dosimeters, pocket-size devices used to detect high radiation levels. The TEPCO official could also not be named in line with policy. Tokyo Energy & Systems said in its report that the workers never used the covers, the TEPCO official said. Japan’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper, however, reported Saturday that while some workers refused the orders to use the lead covers, nine others did use them for several hours. The newspaper’s report cited plant workers, who described the lead covers as fitting snugly over the dosimeters inside the breast pockets of the workers’ protection suits. TEPCO told CNN it ordered Tokyo Energy & Systems Inc. to conduct an investigation and is awaiting a reply.
