Latest list of exposure, injuries and casualties from Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant
2012 Worker Exposure levels worker exposure 121031j0301
By IBTimes Staff Reporter | March 17, 2011 8:56 AM EDT
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has listed out the human injuries and contamination at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, after an official statement from the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary. The list provides a snapshot of the latest information made available to the IAEA by Japanese authorities. Given the fluid situation at the plant, this information is subject to change.
INJURIES
* 2 Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) employees have minor injuries
* 2 subcontractor employees are injured, one person suffered broken legs and one person whose condition is unknown was transported to the hospital
* 2 people are missing
* 2 people were ‘suddenly taken ill’
* 2 TEPCO employees were transported to hospital during the time of donning respiratory protection in the control centre
* 4 people (2 TEPCO employees, 2 subcontractor employees) sustained minor injuries due to the explosion at unit 1 on 11 March and were transported to the hospital
* 11 people (4 TEPCO employees, 3 subcontractor employees and 4 Japanese civil defense workers) were injured due to the explosion at unit 3 on 14 March
RADIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION
* 17 people (9 TEPCO employees, 8 subcontractor employees) suffered from deposition of radioactive material to their faces, but were not taken to the hospital because of low levels of exposure
* One worker suffered from significant exposure during ‘vent work,’ and was transported to an offsite center
* 2 policemen who were exposed to radiation were decontaminated
* Firemen who were exposed to radiation are under investigation
The IAEA continues to seek information from Japanese authorities about all aspects of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, added a press release from the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, dated 16 March 2011. http://www.ibtimes.com
30 Mar 2011 – 11. Summary of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plants …. illness has not been reported. … But, due to lack of availability of WBC (only 4 units), not all workers … http://www.aec.go.jp
Third worker dies at Fukushima nuclear plant
Saturday, 14 May 2011
http://www.independent.co.uk
“A worker at Japan’s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant died today, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said, bringing the death toll at the complex to three since a massive earthquake and tsunami in March. The cause of the death was unknown. The man, in his 60s, was employed by one of Tokyo Electric’s contractors and started working at the plant yesterday. He was exposed to 0.17 millisieverts of radiation today, Tokyo Electric said. The Japanese government’s maximum level of exposure for male workers at the plant is 250 millisieverts for the duration of the effort to bring it under control.”
Other worker deaths documented after the initial disaster:
2011: A worker at Daini died during the initial earthquake
2011: August, a worker dies of acute leukemia under suspicious circumstances that appear to be radiation exposure.
2011: October, worker states they felt unwell then died soon after.
2012: Worker dies of heart attack at work
2013: Plant manager Masao Yoshida dies of throat cancer. TEPCO has denied his radiation exposure was the cause.
2014: A construction worker died in an unsafe excavation site accident.
2015: A worker was crushed to death by the lid of a pump truck.
2015: A construction worker fell into a tank and died.
2015: A worker at Daini was crushed to death while inspecting equipment.
2015: A worker reported feeling unwell and died after arriving at the hospital.
2016: A worker was found in distress and later died at a nearby hospital.
Radiation Exposure to the Workers on site
• As of May 23, a total of 7,800 technicians and engineers worked on-site (collectively). No radiation-induced illness has not been reported.
• According to the gov’t report, the average exposure level is 7.7 mSv.
• It is reported that 115 workers were exposed to higher than 100 mSv. 9 workers received more than 250 mSv (as of June 21, 2011.)
http://www.aec.go.jp
It is regrettable that 3 violations of the law occurred in TEPCO’s radiation management for workers engaged in radiation work, such as
1) the radiation concentration of the air in the Seismic Isolated Building at Fukushima Dai-ichi NPS was high enough to warrant a mask, but masks were not worn,
2) five female employees were working in areas that required radiation management, despite not being registered as radiation workers, and 2 of them had been exposed to radiation exceeding the public dose limit. As a result, we have strictly warned TEPCO. It says 3 violations and lists 2 ????
Meti Press Release – via Archive.org https://web.archive.org/web/20110616012750/www.nisa.meti.go.jp/english/press/2011/06/en20110606-2.pdf
From the Sep update to IAEA, p II-414: “Among workers in March, six people were confirmed as having received exposure exceeding the dose limit of 250mSv for emergency work. All six were TEPCO employees who were engineers in electricity and instrumentation among operators and workers engaged in maintenance of the main control room, and who were engaged in monitoring the instruments in the main control room for several days immediately after the Unit 1 and Unit 3 explosions. The explosions caused contaminated air to flow into the main control room through broken doors, and it is presumed that there occurred the intake of radioactive materials into the body due to the lack of protective equipment (masks), difficulties in the additional deployment of equipment and other reasons. The situation of the workers whose exposure exceeded the dose limit for emergency work, including those engaged in the work indicated above, is shown. (cf. Attachment “Six people confirmed to have exceeded 250 mSv”).” Among the workers engaged in emergency work at Fukushima Dai-ichi NPS, approximately 9,900 have completed assessments of both external and internal exposure doses (as of August 10). The dose distributions of new entrants in March, April and May, respectively, are shown. (cf. Tables II-5-1, 2 and 3) A comparison of average values of the total amount of external and internal exposure doses for each month indicates a declining tendency, with 22.4 mSv in March, 3.9 mSv in April, and 3.1 mSv in May. The maximum dose per month from March to May was 670.4 mSv (in March). (cf. Table II-5-3 values) Workers exposed to high doses exceeding 100 mSv were concentrated in March in the early period of the earthquake disaster, totaling 103 people (84 TEPCO employees; 19 workers from cooperative firms). For the ***ulative dose, the average value of the sum of external exposure from March to July and internal exposure from March to May was 10.4 mSv, and the maximum dose was 672.27 mSv. (See Table II-5-4 values).”
http://www.meti.go.jp/english/earthquake/nuclear/iaea/pdf/20110911/chapter2.pdf
Workers have begun to show up with various cancers including thyroid cancer. Later reports showed worker exposures were faked, undercounted, and other tactics by employers to not accurately document worker exposure levels. Some of the Fukushima 50 workers have been found to have insoluble radioactive glass-like materials lodged in their lungs. More information about all of these issues can be found here.