Limitless dosage of nuclear workers

Following up this article..Tepco started manipulating dosage of nuclear workers

<Quote>

Gov’t agency sought to raise Fukushima radiation exposure limit to 350 millisieverts
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.
Meanwhile, the health ministry had planned to maintain the “usual” limit and combine it with the emergency limit to set the overall upper threshold. Under the scheme, a worker who is exposed to more than 50 millisieverts of radiation in Fukushima will not be allowed to work at other nuclear power plants for one year. Likewise, the worker who is exposed to more than 100 millisieverts of radiation in Fukushima will not be allowed to work at other nuclear power plants for five years.
Seeing that the scheme was unfavorable for workers, TEPCO and nuclear plant makers, therefore, demanded the health ministry set a separate exposure limit, rather than combine the “usual” limit with the emergency limit. If a separate limit was set, the worker would be allowed to be exposed to the “usual” level of radiation exposure at other nuclear facilities even if he was exposed to 250 millisieverts of radiation in Fukushima. On March 22, 2011, Hitachi Ltd., the parent company of Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy which dispatched emergency workers to the Fukushima plant, asked then health minister Ritsuo Hosokawa to set a separate exposure limit.
NISA was later told by TEPCO and Toshiba Corp that it would be difficult to secure enough workers at other nuclear power plants. NISA then prepared a written document on March 25, 2011, saying, “Unless a separate limit is set it will create grave problems in preventing the nuclear disaster from worsening.” With that document, NISA urged the health ministry to review the exposure limit.
After repeatedly exchanging opinions, the health ministry decided to maintain its original plan to combine the “usual” limit with the emergency exposure limit and conveyed its decision to NISA. But the health ministry decided to take out the stipulation of “50 millisieverts per year.” Under the revised scheme, a worker who was exposed to radiation between 50 and 100 millisieverts in Fukushima would be allowed to work at other nuclear plants later for five years within the limit of 100 millisieverts. NISA, TEPCO and others continued to have complaints thereafter. But work to bring the troubled nuclear power plant under control passed the critical stage and the emergency exposure limit was lowered back to 100 millisieverts at the end of last year.
April 05, 2012(Mainichi Japan)

<End>

 

<引用>

福島第1原発:作業員被ばく上限350ミリシーベルト要求
毎日新聞 2012年04月05日 02時30分(最終更新 04月05日 03時46分)
昨年3月23日、福島第1原発1、2号機の中央制御室内で計器を確認中の作業員。ちょうどこのころ、作業員の被ばく線量をめぐり、原子力安全・保安院と厚生労働省の間で激しいやりとりが続いていた=原子力安全・保安院提供
拡大写真
東京電力福島第1原発事故の収束作業で、厚生労働省が昨年3月14日に被ばく線量の上限を100ミリシーベルトから250ミリシーベルトへ引き上げた直後、経済産業省原子力安全・保安院が東電などの要請を受け、上限を事実上350ミリシーベルトまで緩めるよう厚労省に求めていたことが、保安院の内部文書で分かった。保安院は福島での被ばく線量を通常時の規定と「別枠」で扱うよう要求。最終的に厚労省は認めなかったが、原発事故直後の混乱した政府内の攻防の実態が明らかになった。
内部文書は、保安院に宛てて東電や原子炉メーカーの東芝、日立GEニュークリア・エナジーが送った要請文や、保安院の内部メモ。原発作業員の被ばく問題に取り組む団体が情報公開請求し、保安院が開示した。作業員の被ばく線量を巡っては、引き上げ3日後に当時の菅直人首相が「500ミリシーベルトに上げられないか」と官邸で発言したことが分かっているが、具体的な省庁間のやりとりが文書で判明するのは初めて。

労働安全衛生法の規則は、被ばく量の上限を通常時の作業で「1年間で50ミリシーベルトかつ5年間で100ミリシーベルト」、緊急時の作業期間中は「100ミリシーベルト」と規定。厚労省は福島の状況が切迫しているとして事故3日後、緊急時の上限を250ミリシーベルトに引き上げた。その一方、通常時の上限は維持し、両者の線量を合算して規制する方針だった。これだと福島での被ばく線量が50ミリシーベルト超なら1年間、100ミリシーベルト超なら5年間、他の原発では働けなくなる。
このため東電やメーカーは作業員に不利益になるなどとして、合算せず別枠での規制を要求。別枠なら福島で250ミリシーベルト浴びても他の原発で通常時の上限まで働くことが可能になる。まずは3月22日、現場に作業員を送り込んでいる日立GEの親会社、日立製作所が、当時の細川律夫厚労相に別枠化を要請した。
その後、保安院が東電や東芝からも「他の原発の要員が確保できなくなる」などの訴えを受け、「(別枠としなければ)原子炉災害の拡大防止に重大な支障をきたす」とする文書を同25日に作成。厚労省に見直しを迫った。

その後やりとりを繰り返した上で厚労省は4月25日、合算する当初の方針を維持することを決め、保安院へ伝えたが、通常時の規制のうち「1年間で50ミリシーベルト」の規定は除外した。これなら50ミリシーベルト超〜100ミリシーベルトの作業員はその後5年間、100ミリシーベルトを超えない範囲で他の原発でも働ける。
その後も保安院や東電などには不満がくすぶったが、収束作業は山場を越え、昨年末、緊急時の上限は100ミリシーベルトに戻された。【宍戸護、井上英介】

 

 

Source 1 2

 

 

About this site

This website updates the latest news about the Fukushima nuclear plant and also archives the past news from 2011. Because it's always updated and added live, articles, categories and the tags are not necessarily fitted in the latest format.
I am the writer of this website. About page remains in 2014. This is because my memory about 311 was clearer than now, 2023, and I think it can have a historical value. Now I'm living in Romania with 3 cats as an independent data scientist.
Actually, nothing has progressed in the plant since 2011. We still don't even know what is going on inside. They must keep cooling the crippled reactors by water, but additionally groundwater keeps flowing into the reactor buildings from the broken parts. This is why highly contaminated water is always produced more than it can circulate. Tepco is planning to officially discharge this water to the Pacific but Tritium is still remaining in it. They dilute this with seawater so that it is legally safe, but scientifically the same amount of radioactive tritium is contained. They say it is safe to discharge, but none of them have drunk it.

Categories

May 2012
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
28293031