August 14, 2011
Akahata on August 14 learned that workers who have worked on TEPCO’s crippled reactors at its Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant have been excluded from the government-set standard on the limit of radiation exposure.
Sources close to the Fukushima plant have stated that when the workers who were exposed to radiation at the Fukushima plant are transferred to another plant to work, their radiation exposure doses are not included in their registration documents.
These workers’ exposure charts will start from “zero” at another plant even if they were exposed to high levels of radiation at the Fukushima plant.
In response to an Akahata inquiry, TEPCO’s public affairs spokesperson said that the utility is in compliance with the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare guidelines. However, the ministry in response to a separate Akahata inquiry explained that it does not allow the utility to exempt Fukushima plant workers from the government standard. “If this allegation is true, it will be subject to an administrative directive,” the ministry added.
The exposure dosage limit in routine work at a nuclear plant was this: it “must not exceed 50mSv a year and 100mSv in five years” in principle.
However, after the Fukushima nuclear accident, the limit for emergency workers at the Fukushima plant increased to “250mSv/y”.
The ministry instructs plant operators to not assign employees whose exposure doses exceed 100mSv/y to work for five years in which there is a possibility they may be exposed to radiation.
Sources close to the Fukushima plant have stated that when the workers who were exposed to radiation at the Fukushima plant are transferred to another plant to work, their radiation exposure doses are not included in their registration documents.
These workers’ exposure charts will start from “zero” at another plant even if they were exposed to high levels of radiation at the Fukushima plant.
In response to an Akahata inquiry, TEPCO’s public affairs spokesperson said that the utility is in compliance with the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare guidelines. However, the ministry in response to a separate Akahata inquiry explained that it does not allow the utility to exempt Fukushima plant workers from the government standard. “If this allegation is true, it will be subject to an administrative directive,” the ministry added.
The exposure dosage limit in routine work at a nuclear plant was this: it “must not exceed 50mSv a year and 100mSv in five years” in principle.
However, after the Fukushima nuclear accident, the limit for emergency workers at the Fukushima plant increased to “250mSv/y”.
The ministry instructs plant operators to not assign employees whose exposure doses exceed 100mSv/y to work for five years in which there is a possibility they may be exposed to radiation.
