nuclear-news

Nuclear power workers co-operate in deception, in order to keep their jobs

Nuclear power plants: A hidden world of untruths, unethical behavior August 06, 2012 THE ASAHI SHIMBUN The long and the short of it is this: Nuclear power plants probably would not operate properly in Japan if workers were not willing to sacrifice their health, and possibly their lives.

It emerges that workers at nuclear plants routinely resorted to ingenious ways to conceal the true levels of radiation to which they were exposed–simply to go on earning a living.

That is the disturbing picture that emerges from accounts given by
more than 10 people, either working at nuclear power plants or now
retired.

They came out of the woodwork after The Asahi Shimbun reported in late
July that a senior executive of a subcontractor to Tokyo Electric
Power Co. ordered workers to cover dosimeters with lead plates to keep
measured radiation doses at low levels.

One man in his 30s who is employed at the crippled Fukushima No. 1
nuclear power plant recalled looking into the back seat of a vehicle
parked within the complex in May and finding about 20 sets of items
that every worker normally carries.

Each set consisted of a dosimeter that displays radiation exposure
levels for that day, a badge-type dosimeter that measures accumulated
radiation exposure levels over a longer period, as well as the IDs for
the workers. The man peeked into the vehicle three hours later and
noticed the gear was still in the back seat. He concluded that workers
clocked in at the nuclear plant without their dosimeters.

He cited similar instances on five subsequent occasions…….
LONG HISTORY OF CONCEALMENT

While it is troubling that workers hid their dosimeters while working
at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, where radiation levels
soared after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami last year, it
is now clear that such practices have been in place for years, if not
decades.

The man in his 30s who spotted the dosimeters left in the car recalled
another incident about a decade ago when he worked within the reactor
containment vessels at the No. 1 to No. 6 reactors of the Fukushima
No. 1 plant.

At that time, the supervisor for the subcontracting company instructed
the man to place his dosimeter in a lead container about the size of a
tissue box that was placed within the reactor building.

The man said his work usually lasted about an hour. When the
dosimeters were placed in the lead container, radiation exposure doses
were close to zero. When the dosimeters were carried by the workers,
the readings were between 0.3 and 0.4 millisievert.

The man also said that instructions to place the dosimeters in the
lead container tended to increase toward the end of the fiscal year
when the accumulated radiation exposure levels approached the
20-millisieverts standard established by the contracting company.

In reflecting on the practices, the man said, “If a worker diligently
carried a dosimeter, he would not be able to work because the
radiation levels would increase and set off the alarm. I felt it was
only natural to place the dosimeters in the lead container.”

On other occasions, the dosimeters were hidden behind operating panels
within the reactor building, he added. The individual in charge of
radiation management at a subcontractor would remind the workers to be
careful so that TEPCO or other authorities would not uncover the ruse.

“I have no idea how much radiation I was really exposed to,” the man
said. “The company also does not allow me to get health checks for
cancer. I am very concerned about my health.”…….
“Nuclear plants would not operate unless there were people like me
willing to sacrifice their lives.”

(This article was compiled from reports by Miki Aoki, Toshio Tada and
Tamiyuki Kihara.)

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201208060093

August 8, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | employment, Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties