ID :
177474
Sat, 04/23/2011 - 18:21
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/177474
The shortlink copeid
Workers locked in battle at Fukushima, exposure to radiation rising
TOKYO (Kyodo) - Workers at a nuclear power plant damaged by last month's earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan's northeast continued battling to deal with radioactive water Saturday as their exposure to radiation is constantly increasing.
One more worker is found to have been exposed to radiation of more than 100 millisieverts, bringing to 30 the total number of people of that dosage level while dealing with the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant since the March 11 disasters, sources familiar with the situation said.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday that a piece of concrete rubble with a high radiation emission of 900 millisieverts per hour was found near the plant's No. 3 reactor and a worker removed it using heavy equipment.
The worker who operated the equipment was exposed to 3.17 millisieverts of radiation, but officials of the utility known as TEPCO said the dosage does not pose a major problem.
The concrete piece, about 30 centimeters in both length and width with a thickness of about 5 cm, was found Wednesday and removed the following day and is currently being kept inside a container with other pieces of rubble, the officials said.
While workers began removing rubble from the damaged plant using remote-controlled heavy machinery, the one emitting high radiation was removed directly using the equipment so as not to damage an important pipe located nearby, they said.
TEPCO says workers and engineers exposed to radiation close to 200 millisieverts are switched to jobs that risk receiving lower levels of contamination.
Such a policy has been applied to just one worker so far, after his reading rose to 198 millisieverts, according to the utility.
To cope with the Fukushima crisis, the government has raised the legal limit on the amount of radiation to which each worker could be exposed in an emergency situation to 250 millisieverts from 100 millisieverts.
On Saturday, highly toxic radioactive water from one of the troubled reactors was transferred from the basement of a building to a nearby waste-disposing facility for a fifth consecutive day, while attempts were made to prevent it from leaking into the sea.
An estimated 25,000 tons of contaminated water need to be removed, of which 10,000 tons are planned to be sent to the facility by mid-May. Only less than 10 percent has been transferred so far in a process considered crucial for the plant to restore the cooling functions for its reactors.
Separately, the science ministry said the cumulative dosage of radiation has exceeded the annual limit set by the government for evacuation at one location in the town of Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, about 30 km northwest of the nuclear complex.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said the radiation amount, measured over one month between March 23 and Friday, surpassed the 20-millisievert limit at the place although the pace of accumulation has gradually slowed.
The ministry's data showed the radiation level there reached 10 millisieverts after the first 12 days since the start of measurement, but it took 19 days for an additional 10 millisieverts of radiation to be detected.
On Friday, Namie was named to the list of municipalities located outside a 20-km radius of the complex, from where a total of about 10,500 residents must leave by around late May. The government had declared the 20-km area around the plant a no-go zone the previous day.
One more worker is found to have been exposed to radiation of more than 100 millisieverts, bringing to 30 the total number of people of that dosage level while dealing with the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi plant since the March 11 disasters, sources familiar with the situation said.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Saturday that a piece of concrete rubble with a high radiation emission of 900 millisieverts per hour was found near the plant's No. 3 reactor and a worker removed it using heavy equipment.
The worker who operated the equipment was exposed to 3.17 millisieverts of radiation, but officials of the utility known as TEPCO said the dosage does not pose a major problem.
The concrete piece, about 30 centimeters in both length and width with a thickness of about 5 cm, was found Wednesday and removed the following day and is currently being kept inside a container with other pieces of rubble, the officials said.
While workers began removing rubble from the damaged plant using remote-controlled heavy machinery, the one emitting high radiation was removed directly using the equipment so as not to damage an important pipe located nearby, they said.
TEPCO says workers and engineers exposed to radiation close to 200 millisieverts are switched to jobs that risk receiving lower levels of contamination.
Such a policy has been applied to just one worker so far, after his reading rose to 198 millisieverts, according to the utility.
To cope with the Fukushima crisis, the government has raised the legal limit on the amount of radiation to which each worker could be exposed in an emergency situation to 250 millisieverts from 100 millisieverts.
On Saturday, highly toxic radioactive water from one of the troubled reactors was transferred from the basement of a building to a nearby waste-disposing facility for a fifth consecutive day, while attempts were made to prevent it from leaking into the sea.
An estimated 25,000 tons of contaminated water need to be removed, of which 10,000 tons are planned to be sent to the facility by mid-May. Only less than 10 percent has been transferred so far in a process considered crucial for the plant to restore the cooling functions for its reactors.
Separately, the science ministry said the cumulative dosage of radiation has exceeded the annual limit set by the government for evacuation at one location in the town of Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, about 30 km northwest of the nuclear complex.
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology said the radiation amount, measured over one month between March 23 and Friday, surpassed the 20-millisievert limit at the place although the pace of accumulation has gradually slowed.
The ministry's data showed the radiation level there reached 10 millisieverts after the first 12 days since the start of measurement, but it took 19 days for an additional 10 millisieverts of radiation to be detected.
On Friday, Namie was named to the list of municipalities located outside a 20-km radius of the complex, from where a total of about 10,500 residents must leave by around late May. The government had declared the 20-km area around the plant a no-go zone the previous day.
