2,000 Fukushima staff in thyroid cancer risk
Source: AFP |
July 20, 2013, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
AROUND 2,000 people who have worked at Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant face a heightened risk of thyroid cancer, its operator said yesterday.
Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said 1,973 people - around 10 percent of those employed in emergency crews involved in the clean-up since the meltdowns - were believed to have been exposed to enough radiation to cause potential problems.
The figure is a 10-fold increase on TEPCO's previous estimate of the number of possible thyroid cancer victims and comes after the utility was told its figures were too conservative.
Each worker in this group was exposed to at least 100 millisieverts of radiation, projections show.
Although little is known about the exact health effects of radiation on the human body, the level is considered a possible threshold for increased cancer risk.
The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant became the site of the worst nuclear disaster in a generation after the massive tsunami of March 2011 destroyed cooling systems. Its reactors went through meltdown, spewing radioactive materials.
Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes in a large area around the plant, where crews continue to clear debris and cool the reactors.
The huge utility, which has faced frequent criticism for downplaying dangers and not being forthcoming about problems at the site, revised its method of estimating the level of radiation exposure among workers earlier this month.
TEPCO reported to the World Health Organization in December that only 178 workers at the plant were believed to have received radiation doses to their thyroid glands above 100 millisieverts.
Japan's health ministry voiced concern that the criteria the company used in its estimates of exposure for its own workers as well as for those employed by contractors were too narrow, and called on the utility to re-evaluate its methods.
There were also errors in calculations and differences of interpretation.
Not all of the approximately 20,000 workers have actually been tested. The numbers have been arrived at by extrapolating the results of tests that have been carried out.
Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said 1,973 people - around 10 percent of those employed in emergency crews involved in the clean-up since the meltdowns - were believed to have been exposed to enough radiation to cause potential problems.
The figure is a 10-fold increase on TEPCO's previous estimate of the number of possible thyroid cancer victims and comes after the utility was told its figures were too conservative.
Each worker in this group was exposed to at least 100 millisieverts of radiation, projections show.
Although little is known about the exact health effects of radiation on the human body, the level is considered a possible threshold for increased cancer risk.
The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant became the site of the worst nuclear disaster in a generation after the massive tsunami of March 2011 destroyed cooling systems. Its reactors went through meltdown, spewing radioactive materials.
Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes in a large area around the plant, where crews continue to clear debris and cool the reactors.
The huge utility, which has faced frequent criticism for downplaying dangers and not being forthcoming about problems at the site, revised its method of estimating the level of radiation exposure among workers earlier this month.
TEPCO reported to the World Health Organization in December that only 178 workers at the plant were believed to have received radiation doses to their thyroid glands above 100 millisieverts.
Japan's health ministry voiced concern that the criteria the company used in its estimates of exposure for its own workers as well as for those employed by contractors were too narrow, and called on the utility to re-evaluate its methods.
There were also errors in calculations and differences of interpretation.
Not all of the approximately 20,000 workers have actually been tested. The numbers have been arrived at by extrapolating the results of tests that have been carried out.
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