About Fukushima workers

May 24, 2012

UN: Fukushima workers did not die from radiation

http://www3.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/20120525_01.html

A UN agency says the deaths of 6 workers who were involved in operations at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant were not linked to radiation.

The UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, or UNSCEAR, released a preliminary report at a news conference at its headquarters in Vienna on Thursday.

UNSCEAR has been conducting scientific studies since May of last year. They were based on data provided by the Japanese government and focused on the effects of radiation on Fukushima plant workers.

UNSCEAR Chair Wolfgang Weiss said the committee confirmed that 8 of the roughly 20,000 workers who had been involved in operations at the plant until late January, were exposed to more than 100 millisieverts of radiation.

Anyone with that dose is said to have an increased risk of cancer.

Weiss added that the committee will continue to examine the effects of radiation on human bodies using figures presented by Japan.

UNSCEAR plans to compile a final report and submit it to the UN by the end of next year.