国の放射線被爆限度基準の引き上げに対する現場作業員を雇う企業側の反応
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Companies nix higher radiation dose limit
Kyodo News
Companies dispatching workers to the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant are refusing to enforce the government's raised limit on radiation exposure, saying it would not be accepted by their workers, it was learned Saturday.
The limit was increased from 100 millisieverts to 250 millisieverts in a March 15 announcement by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
The increase was requested by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to enable workers to work longer hours and to secure more employees who meet the requirement.
The ministry's decision was made after consulting with the Radiation Council, a body under the science ministry.
But the companies say they are sticking to the previous, lower, limit.
According to Tokyo Electric Power Co., 21 workers had been exposed to a cumulative dose exceeding 100 millisieverts as of April 1. On March 24, three workers — two from Tepco affiliate Kandenko Co. and another from a subcontractor — were exposed to high doses of radiation while laying cables in the basement of reactor 3's turbine building.
"The workers on-site would not agree to accept the suddenly raised" limit, a public relations official at Kandenko said. "We have to be prudent. In view of the workers' safety, we will maintain the 100 millisievert limit."
An official at Tokyo Energy & Systems Inc., a Tepco subsidiary, said: "The target rate at the site is 100 millisieverts. But in practice, we have set a lower limit of 80 millisieverts to control radiation exposure."
Construction companies Kajima Corp. and Taisei Corp. have also adopted 100 millisieverts as their yardstick.
Hitachi Ltd., however, has adopted "200 millisieverts under an in-house regulation," a public relations official said.
Tepco has been complying with the higher limit, but in recent days it was disclosed that not all its workers were using radiation monitors due to a shortage of units equipped with alarms.
