nuclear-news

$100 dollars a day: workers face radiation risks at Fukushima nuclear plant

it’s really important to reduce the amount of radiation that each individual gets and to do that, we need to bring in more people.” Bringing in more workers is going to be hard. Already, 167 workers have exceeded their lifetime radiation exposure limit of 100 milliseverts. 

Safety fears at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant 03/05/2012 By majiroxnews TOKYO  — Low pay and overwork could trigger a shortage of workers at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The Tokyo Occupational Safety and Health Center warned this week of thesedangers – with workers at the crippled site earning as little as 100 dollars a day.

After the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami crippled Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, conditions of the workers seem to be plummeting. For example, according to the Sankei newspaper, a man in his 50s working at Fukushima nuclear power
plant died in October, apparently from overwork.

One government official has taken issue with plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) handling of the situation. “There’s no mistaking that the plant is a dangerous worksite, and I don’t think that we have adequate working conditions in place there,” said Katsuya Iida, secretary general of the Tokyo Occupational Safety and Health Center. “So it’s hard to say if we will be able to bring in a large
number of people required to do the work. The point I must emphasize
is that it’s really important to reduce the amount of radiation that
each individual gets and to do that, we need to bring in more people.”
Bringing in more workers is going to be hard. Already, 167 workers
have exceeded their lifetime radiation exposure limit of 100
milliseverts. Now public concern hangs on the threat of radiation.
A housewife who lives in Tokyo says, “I don’t think we can say it’s
safe, because nobody has properly seen the inside of plant. It might
be safe, but I do worry that it might get even worse than it is now.”

The cleanup program is also suffering regular setbacks. High levels of
radiation, the so-called “hot spots,” are also adding to the worries.
Tetsuya Endo said, “What is the situation, the real situation of the
core areas of the nuclear reactors, since nobody goes in there we
don’t get to know.”….
http://www.majiroxnews.com/2012/03/05/safety-fears-at-fukushima-daiichi-nuclear-plant/

March 6, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, Japan