Japan Press Weekly

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2011 May 25 - 31 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

2 TEPCO workers exposed to excessive radiation

Two TEPCO employees working in a Fukushima plant control room from March 11 to March 15 were found to have been exposed to a massive dose of radiation.

TEPCO on May 30 announced that the two are aged in their 30s and 40s, and that radioactive iodine exceeding the 250mSv-limit was detected in their thyroid glands by a whole-body counter test. Their radiation levels may have reached several hundreds of millisieverts. TEPCO says it will carry out tests on another 150 employees who were working at the crippled plant during the same period.

Noguchi Kunikazu, a Nihon University lecturer who specializes in the study of radiation exposure, argued that the original limit is 100 mSv and the over-250mSv is in violation of law.

“Given the fact that exposure to the illegally massive quantity of radiation came out at this late date, I must say TEPCO pays little attention to its employees’ health monitoring,” said Noguchi.