Doubling workers' maximum dose

April 18, 2015

Health ministry proposes more than doubling radiation exposure limit

http://ajw.asahi.com/article/0311disaster/fukushima/AJ201504180025

By TOMOYO FUKUMIYA/ Staff Writer

The health ministry recommends raising the maximum radiation-exposure limit for nuclear plant workers during an emergency from the current 100 millisieverts to 250 millisieverts.

The proposed figure, contained in a report completed April 17 by a panel of experts at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, would then be precisely half that of the 500-millisievert limit set by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

After the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, the maximum limit of exposure in emergencies was temporarily raised to 250 millisieverts for workers at the plant as an exceptional measure. Nine months later it was returned to 100 millisieverts.

The health ministry began considering raising the maximum radiation exposure limit for workers at all nuclear plants to 250 millisieverts following a suggestion by the Nuclear Regulation Authority in December. The new limit will be rubber-stamped after being examined by two ministry committees.

Currently, the health ministry also sets the upper limit of cumulative radiation exposure at 100 millisieverts over a five-year period in nonemergency cases.

It instructs plant operators not to exceed this limit for workers even when the accumulated exposures in emergency and nonemergency cases are combined.

Gov't committee recommends more than doubling Fukushima plant workers' max radiation dose

http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20150418p2a00m0na003000c.html

The maximum radiation dose for staff doing emergency work at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant should be hiked from 100 millisieverts to 250 millisieverts, an expert government panel stated in an April 17 report.

The expert panel under the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is charged with considering policy on the long-term health of workers at the Fukushima No. 1 plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.

The panel recommendations must undergo a public comment phase, as well as pass the ministry's labor policy and radiation committees before they are incorporated into official safety standards. The ministry is aiming to make the necessary revisions to anti-radiation damage regulations in autumn this year.

At present, regulations state that a worker can be exposed to a maximum level of 50 millisieverts of radiation per year, and 100 millisieverts over five years. This upper limit had been raised to 250 millisieverts for emergency workers at Fukushima No. 1 plant, though this was later repealed. The expert committee decided, however, that this higher limit was appropriate.