Japan Press Weekly

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2011 May 18 - 24 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

TEPCO leaves N-crisis workers unprotected from airborne radiation

Japanese Communist Party representative Tamura Tomoko at a House of Councilors Budget Committee meeting on May 20 pointed out the fact that workers now tackling the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima plant have been left without measures to protect them from internal exposure to radiation.

Tamura asked TEPCO if the company has measured the radiation doses inhaled by these workers.

TEPCO Vice President Muto Sakae answered that as of May 16, TEPCO has checked 1,400 out of 7,400 workers but was able to determine only 40 men’s radiation doses.

Surprisingly, he confessed that it will take two more months to check all the workers because his company has only two whole-body counters available at the Fukushima plant.

The JCP representative demanded that a system be set up immediately in order to measure doses of internal radiation exposure.

Muto in response said, “We will obtain at least 12 whole-body counters and will take measurements as early as possible.”

Tamura said that temporary-employed workers were reportedly instructed to sign a written consent to nullify the responsibility of TEPCO’s subcontract firms in case of ill-health effects.

“This is against the law. TEPCO should assure its subcontractors that it will bear the responsibility of any ill-health effects,” Tamura argued.

Muto answered, “It is regrettable if such written consent is being forced on workers. We will respond to radiation-induced health damages based on the Compensation for Nuclear Damages Act.”

Tamura also criticized the nuclear plant operator for not even knowing the exact number of workers who have been struggling to end the crisis, and pointed out that two thirds of them are not TEPCO employees.

Tamura then demanded that the government “promise to protect these workers’ health and lives.”

Prime Minister Kan Naoto replied, “As I am in charge of the government’s emergency taskforce, I will press TEPCO to submit to the Diet a list of all its subcontract firms.”