Fukushima Nuke Plant: 2 Workers Exceeded 200 Milli-Sieverts

[Barrett808]

The number is the total of external and internal exposures, as of the end of March. The reason why TEPCO is now announcing? Well TEPCO didn't know, because they couldn't use the whole-body counters that measure the internal radiation at Fukushima I Nuke Power Plant.

Why couldn't the whole-body counters be used? (There are 4 of them at Fukushima I.)

Another Mainichi article (in Japanese, 4/30/2011) explains that there was no power at the plant until the end of March so the counters couldn't be used. By the time the power was finally restored, the air radiation level at the plant had gotten so high that the measurement was rendered irrelevant; even when the radiation was detected by the whole-body counter, they couldn't distinguish between the internal radiation exposure level and the environmental radiation level. TEPCO finally moved the workers who exceeded 100 milli-sieverts to its Iwaki-City facility and measured the internal radiation there, with the help of Japan Atomic Energy Agency.

If TEPCO was so disorganized and rattled with the on-going crisis at Fukushima I and wasn't paying enough attention for the radiation safety for the workers, wasn't it the government's responsibility to ensure the safety of the workers by arranging for the whole-body counters and doing the testing, much, much sooner?

(Oh I forgot. This is the government who said it was basically TEPCO's problem to find enough food, water and blanket for the workers, while it stood by, saying it regretted the situation.)

So it suddenly occurred to the government and TEPCO after 6 weeks that they could take the workers off-site and have them tested?

Just criminal. ...

#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: 2 Workers Exceeded 200 Milli-Sieverts

[ReturnoftheDjedi]

1. don't worry, FBag, said they'd be just fine...

[FBaggins]

9. So do all the experts

They have a very VERY slightly higher chance of cancer in a few decades.

They WILL be just fine.

[meow mix]

2. well duh, any health issues obviously from their over-indulgence on bananas

its their own fault. :hangover:

[nonperson]

3. I'm sure it's no worse than two or three chest X-rays

People get so caught up in the whole nuclear radiation is bad thing they become almost incapable of rational thought. Our Sun produces vast amounts of radiation and we're all still alive and doing fine. The distance from Earth to the Sun doesn't matter and there is no definitive link between radiation exposure and any specific cancer in any specific individuals anywhere.

Saying anything to the contrary is just crazy. It's like claiming cigarettes caused lung cancer in any specific lifelong smoker. Just crazy!

Just in case anyone thinks I'm being serious:
:sarcasm:

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Soon they will come and tell you why you are being

an alarminst ninny...

:-)

reality is that this has been managed the same way the Soviets did Chernobyl, and yes, we did TMI... it is the INDUSTRY stoopid!

[SpoonFed]

5. I for one...

Would drink any and all liquids including water and milk and any and all foods grown within the power plants fences as these levels are less than what I am being exposed to on an hourly basis here in my subterranean, lead shielded concrete walled DU troll bunker. Everything is just groovy.

[CJvR]

6. Given the scale of the disaster...

...the reported radiation exposure have been remarkably light.

We have three meltdowns with accompanying hydrogen fireworks and massive releases of radioactive gasses (some 10% of Chernobyl) yet hardly anyone is seriously irradiated.

[jpak]

7. The human scale of this disaster my never be fully or accurately documented: TEPCO = evil

yup

[FBaggins]

10. Your first statement is correct. But of course it's your fault.

Ignoring the true scale of the disaster to focus on the MUCH smaller danger.

Like the guy ready to sue the school for now requiring shin guards for his son's football team... While ignoring the fact that they don't wear helmets or pads.

20,000 confusions and broken bones while you whine On and on about the first kid to scratch his shin.

[Throckmorton]

8. And the whole body counters at all the other plants are broke too?

TEPCO is now bordering on ridiculous.

I routinely get whole body counts when I visit other plants, its not like the internal contaminants wear off in 10 minutes.