Reported on CBC this morning:
*Natalia*
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201207210069
TEPCO subcontractor used lead to fake dosimeter readings at Fukushima
plant
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
Workers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant were ordered to
cover their dosimeters with lead plates to keep radiation doses low
enough to continue working under dangerous conditions, the Asahi Shimbun
has learned.
Some refused the orders. Others raised questions about their safety and
the legality of the practice. But the man in charge, a senior official
of a subcontractor of Tokyo Electric Power Co., warned them that they
would lose their jobs--and any chance of employment at other nuclear
plants--if they failed to comply.
The pocket-sized dosimeters sound an alarm when they detect high
radiation levels. A worker who has been exposed to an accumulated dose
of 50 millisieverts within a year must stop working and stay away from
the area for a certain period of time.
The 54-year-old senior official at Build-Up, a midsize construction
company based in Fukushima Prefecture, worked out a system to ensure the
dosimeters would not reach the limit, according to the workers. It
included having the workers themselves build the lead cover that would
prevent the radiation from reaching the dosimeters.
The president of Build-Up acknowledged on July 21 that the senior
official had nine people work at the nuclear plant for about three hours
on Dec. 1 with their dosimeters shielded by the lead plates.
The senior official, who acted as a site foreman, initially denied
giving such instructions. But he later admitted to his actions over the
phone to the Build-Up president.
A number of the workers explained the process in detail. And one of them
provided The Asahi Shimbun with a recording of a meeting the Build-Up
foreman had with defiant workers on the night of Dec. 2 at an inn in
Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture, where the workers stayed.
The conversation shows the foreman growing increasingly agitated by the
workers' refusal to rig their dosimeters.
The workers' job was to wind insulating material around hoses of a
treatment system for radioactive water near the No. 1, No. 2, No. 3 and
No. 4 reactor buildings of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
TEPCO, the operator of the Fukushima plant, assigned the task to Tokyo
Energy and Systems Inc., a TEPCO group company, which then subcontracted
part of the work to Build-Up.
The 10 or so workers organized for the task included Build-Up employees
and others dispatched by brokers from various parts of Japan.
According to workers, about half of the team assembled in an area of the
nuclear plant on Nov. 30, where the Build-Up foreman presented a lead
plate about 1 square meter in size and several millimeters thick.
He ordered the workers to draw lines on the plate and cut out pieces
using special scissors. The workers then used vises and hammers to
reshape the pieces so that they would cover the front, sides and bottom
of their personal dosimeters.
On Dec. 1, the Build-Up foreman instructed the team members to cover
their dosimeters with the lead plates. But three of the workers refused,
prompting the boss to hold a meeting with them on Dec. 2.
*'YOU CAN'T MAKE LIVING WHEN THE DOSE RUNS OUT'*
The Build-Up foreman denied the conversation took place. But the defiant
workers said the recording of the meeting is accurate.
According to the recording, the foreman said, "Everybody who works for
nuclear plants know that the limit is 50 millisieverts per year. If you
get exposed to a lot of radiation, you will reach that limit in less
than a year. It could run out in three or four months."
He continued: "You can't live by nuclear plants around the year unless
you take care of your own radiation doses. You simply can't go and work
somewhere else when you are not allowed to work for nuclear plants. You
can no longer make a living when the dose runs out. Do you understand
that? The 50 millisieverts just keeps running out."
One of the workers tried to interject, saying, "As for me, this is
something that we shouldn't do ... ."
But the foreman interrupted, saying: "I know only too well that we
shouldn't do that. If you don't want to do so, you don't have to."
Another worker gave his opinion: "I think this is almost a crime."
The foreman retorted: "Did I ever coerce you? I am just saying, 'Please
do it if you can convince yourself to do it for your own sake.'"
The foreman also supervises work projects at other nuclear plants in
Japan. He said in the recording that he could not allow all the doses at
the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant to be used up.
The workers said the foreman likely wanted all of the workers to use the
lead shields to prevent wide variations in the readings on the dosimeters.
At the meeting, they continued to demand an explanation on why they had
to use the lead covers.
"Unless you use a lead shield, you can no longer work when the dose is
up," the foreman emphasized.
*"YOU ARE NOT CUT OUT FOR WORKING AT NUCLEAR PLANTS"*
The foreman also recalled a preliminary inspection made in late November
by Build-Up staff near the No. 1 through No. 4 reactor buildings. The
area was still littered with debris from the hydrogen explosions of
March last year, and the foreman said his personal dosimeter began beeping.
"I realized at once that (the radiation levels) were high. I decided, at
my own discretion, that we should do that when we work in that area."
The workers said they were convinced that "do that" meant rigging the
dosimeters.
The foreman also indicated he had faked his own radiation dose readings
in the past. "I have done so before in order to take care of my doses,"
he said.
His words were still not enough to persuade the workers, so he adopted a
tougher tone.
"Perhaps you are not cut out for working at nuclear plants," he said.
"Go back to your hometown and do some other job."
Both sides remained far apart during the one-hour talk. The three
workers quit their jobs and returned to their hometowns the following day.
But the other workers complied.
*'MAKE SURE NOBODY SEES WHAT YOU ARE DOING'*
TEPCO records show that one Build-Up worker was exposed to more than 10
millisieverts of radiation in December alone, placing him near the top
percentile among the approximately 5,000 people who worked at the
Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant at the time. However, he was believed to
have used a lead shield over his dosimeter, meaning he was likely
exposed to even larger doses of radiation.
According to the Build-Up workers, on Dec. 1, they changed into
protective suits at the J-Village, a soccer stadium 20 kilometers south
of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant that is used as a relay base for
workers. They said the Build-Up foreman then issued instructions.
"Today, we will enter areas of high radiation levels. We will wear the
lead boxes," he said.
The foreman told the workers to take a bus to the Main Anti-Earthquake
Building on the premises of the nuclear plant, where they would receive
TEPCO's dosimeters. They were to put the devices in their breast pockets
beneath their protection suits and change into a vehicle for exclusive
use by Build-Up staff.
Once inside the Build-Up vehicle, each worker would be given a lead
cover. The workers were to rip their protection suits, cover their
personal dosimeters with the lead sheaths and cover the tears in their
protective suits with tape.
"Make sure nobody sees what you are doing," he told each worker. "Did
you understand? You'll do so, won't you?"
However, the three workers surprised the foreman by rejecting his orders.
"I am not forcing you. Go back if you don't want to do so," he said. He
walked toward the bus bound for the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant with
the other workers who agreed to follow his instructions.
The foreman picked one man from the team and told him to drive the
defiant workers to the lodging in Iwaki.
"No other company wants to work in areas with high radiation levels,"
the driver told the workers during the ride. "That's why that kind of
work ends up in the hands of Build-Up. But you can make good money that
way."
(This article was written by Jun Sato, Chiaki Fujimori, Miki Aoki,
Tamiyuki Kihara and Takayuki Kihara.)
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
36 Percent Of Fukushima Children Have Abnormal Growths From Radiation
Exposure
Read more:
http://www.businessinsider.com/a-stunning-36-percent-of-fukushima-children-have-abnormal-growths-from-radiation-exposure-2012-7#ixzz21HRQ3Abf
Of more than 38,000 children tested from the Fukushima Prefecture in
Japan, 36 percent have abnormal growths
<http://enenews.com/now-35-8-of-fukushima-children-have-thyroid-cysts-or-nodules> --
cysts or nodules -- on their thyroids a year after the Fukushima nuclear
disaster, as reported by ENENews.
The shocking numbers come from the thyroid examination section of the
"Sixth Report of Fukushima Prefecture Health Management Survey
<http://fukushimavoice-eng.blogspot.com/>," published by /Fukushima
Radioactive Contamination Symptoms Research/ (FRCSR
<https://sites.google.com/site/fukushimareport/>) and translated by the
blog /Fukushima Voice/.
Shunichi Yamashita, M.D., president of the Japan Thyroid Association,
sent a letter
<http://fukushimavoice-eng.blogspot.com/2012/05/fukushima-childrens-thyroid-examination.html>
to members in January with guidelines for treating thyroid
abnormalities. In 2001 Yamashita co-authored a study that found normal
children in Nagasaki to have 0 percent nodules and 0.8 percent cysts.
<https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B68f83tqq7QuNTVkOVdrNzlRWUk/edit>
The introduction of the letter, written by /Fukushima Voice/, states
that the results in Fukushima show a "much faster progression compared
to Chernobyl" as research done around Chernobyl showed the rate of
thyroid nodules in children 5 to 10 years after the accident to be 1.74
percent.
In March 2011 a massive earthquake triggered a tsunami that led to
series of nuclear meltdowns and releases of radioactive materials
<http://www.businessinsider.com/before-and-after-pictures-japan-tsunami-2012-3> at
the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, leading to the largest nuclear
disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
The introduction of the letter notes that Australian pediatrician Helen
Caldicott said that is"not at all normal for children to have thyroid
nodules or cysts and that early appearance of thyroid abnormalities,
less than one year, meant* the Fukushima children received a very high
dose of radiation.*
ENENews also reported a specific case
<http://enenews.com/family-100-km-from-fukushima-daiichi-4-7-and-10-year-old-each-with-many-cysts-on-thyroid-ultrasound> in
which three children in a family who lived 60 miles from the Fukushima
nuclear plant were found to have multiple cysts on their thyroids.
Read more:
http://www.businessinsider.com/a-stunning-36-percent-of-fukushima-children-have-abnormal-growths-from-radiation-exposure-2012-7#ixzz21HRbVZNU
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