nuclear-news

Under pressure from TEPCO, Japan’s nuclear agency raised the radiation limit for Fukushima workers

NISA demanded the change to the radiation exposure limit after receiving a request from Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)

Gov agency sought to raise Fukushima radiation exposure limit http://www.houseofjapan.com/local/gov-agency-sought-to-raise-fukushima-radiation-exposure-limit  House of Japan, 5 April 12,  The government’s Nuclear and Industrial
Safety Agency (NISA) demanded the health ministry raise the allowable radiation exposure limit to 350 millisieverts effectively for emergency workers trying to bring the crippled Fukushima nuclear power station under control shortly after the ministry lifted the legal
exposure limit to 250 millisieverts from 100 millisieverts on March 14, 2011, it has been learned.
NISA demanded the change to the radiation exposure limit after
receiving a request from Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the
operator of the troubled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant,
according to NISA’s internal documents disclosed after an organization
specializing in issues of radiation exposure requested the materials
through information disclosure laws.

The internal documents disclosed
are NISA’s internal memos and solicitation documents TEPCO, Toshiba
Corp. and Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd. sent to NISA.
It was already known that then Prime Minister Naoto Kan talked about
the possibility of raising the exposure limit to 500 millisieverts at
the Prime Minister’s Office three days after it was raised to 250
millisieverts. But it is the first time that specific exchanges
between the government ministries and agencies concerned have been
revealed through internal documents.
Regulations enforced under the Industrial Safety and Health Act set
the radiation exposure limit at 50 millisieverts per year for workers
under “usual” conditions and at 100 millisieverts for five years,
while the rules set the limit at 100 millisieverts for people working
under an emergency situation. To cope with the worsening nuclear
crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power complex, the Health, Labor and
Welfare Ministry raised the emergency exposure limit to 250
millisieverts for workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant three
days after the outbreak of the disaster.

April 6, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties