3 workers exposed to high radiation, 2 sustain possible burns
Mar. 25, 2011
Three workers were exposed to high-level radiation Thursday while laying cable at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, and two of them were taken to hospital due to possible radiation burns to their feet, the nuclear safety agency and the plant operator said.
The three men in their 20s and 30s were exposed to radiation amounting to 173 to 180 millisieverts at around 12:10 p.m. while laying cable underground at the No. 3 reactor's turbine building.
The two hospitalized are workers of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s affiliated firm and had their feet under water while carrying out the work from 10 a.m., according to the utility known as TEPCO and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
The two, who were diagnosed with possible beta ray burns at a Fukushima hospital, will later be sent to the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba Prefecture, the agency said.
TEPCO said radioactive water may have seeped through the workers' radiation protective gear, causing radioactive materials in the water to stick to their skin. The burns are caused by direct exposure to beta rays, the utility added.
Following the incident, workers at the first and the basement floors of the No. 3 reactor's turbine building were told to evacuate the area.
The radiation levels the three were exposed to are this time lower than the maximum limit of 250 millisieverts set by the health ministry for workers tackling the ongoing emergency at the Fukushima plant. The accumulative amounts of radiation to which they have been exposed are also below this criteria, TEPCO said.
Usually in Japan, the upper radiation exposure limit for nuclear plant workers is set at 50 millisieverts per year, or 100 millisieverts within five years, but the level comes to a cumulative 100 millisieverts in the event of a crisis. The health ministry has further relaxed these standards to deal with the crisis in Fukushima, the worst in Japan.
With the latest exposure cases, the number of workers who have been exposed to radiation exceeding 100 millisieverts at the plant comes to 17, the operator said.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on March 24, 2011)
The three men in their 20s and 30s were exposed to radiation amounting to 173 to 180 millisieverts at around 12:10 p.m. while laying cable underground at the No. 3 reactor's turbine building.
The two hospitalized are workers of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s affiliated firm and had their feet under water while carrying out the work from 10 a.m., according to the utility known as TEPCO and the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
The two, who were diagnosed with possible beta ray burns at a Fukushima hospital, will later be sent to the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba Prefecture, the agency said.
TEPCO said radioactive water may have seeped through the workers' radiation protective gear, causing radioactive materials in the water to stick to their skin. The burns are caused by direct exposure to beta rays, the utility added.
Following the incident, workers at the first and the basement floors of the No. 3 reactor's turbine building were told to evacuate the area.
The radiation levels the three were exposed to are this time lower than the maximum limit of 250 millisieverts set by the health ministry for workers tackling the ongoing emergency at the Fukushima plant. The accumulative amounts of radiation to which they have been exposed are also below this criteria, TEPCO said.
Usually in Japan, the upper radiation exposure limit for nuclear plant workers is set at 50 millisieverts per year, or 100 millisieverts within five years, but the level comes to a cumulative 100 millisieverts in the event of a crisis. The health ministry has further relaxed these standards to deal with the crisis in Fukushima, the worst in Japan.
With the latest exposure cases, the number of workers who have been exposed to radiation exceeding 100 millisieverts at the plant comes to 17, the operator said.
(Distributed by Kyodo News on March 24, 2011)
