Promise of protection for recovery workers

April 23, 2012

Recovery workers to get radiation limits

Jiji Press

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120422002572.htm

The health ministry will introduce radiation exposure control standards for reconstruction workers in areas damaged by last year's earthquake and tsunami, officials said.

The ministry found it necessary to implement the new standards, as reconstruction work is beginning in earnest in Fukushima Prefecture, home to a nuclear power station crippled by the disasters.

Currently, there are radiation exposure control standards for workers at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant and those engaged in decontamination around the plant but not for construction and other workers.

In areas where annual radiation exposure is estimated at greater than 5 millisieverts, employers will be obliged to have each worker carry a dosimeter and receive health checks at least once a year, officials said Friday. In other areas, such individual radiation exposure control will not be required.