Friday, September 8, 2017

Perplexing Report of Worker Radiation Exposure Out of Fukushima Daiichi


Reuters is reporting that a worker was directly exposed to radiation at Fukushima Daiichi Friday during a "routine safety check.

The article states that radiation was detected in the worker's "nasal cavity" which suggests s/he inhaled the "dose" of "0.010 millisieverts." The exposure is REPORTEDLY not expected to pose "an immediate health risk":
Japan's Tepco says Fukushima plant worker exposed to small radiation dose (2017, September 8). Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-japan-nuclear-contamination/japans-tepco-says-fukushima-plant-worker-exposed-to-small-radiation-dose-idUSKCN1BJ0XM
Reuters states that "Reported radiation exposure incidents have been rare," which is true because TEPCO doesn't often report its workers' radiation exposure and Japan has set the permissible dose for plant workers at 250 millisieverts a year (!)

I wonder what kind of radiation the worker was exposed to? Did the unfortunate worker inhale cesium or plutonium?

It is a good thing the radionuclides were detected so they can (hopefully) be removed but my heart goes out to that worker who is puting his or her life on the line while struggling to mitigate the ongoing but little-remembered catastrophe that is Fukushima Daiichi.

The plant has been beleaguered with heavy rains since Sep 7. You can see screenshots here, with images of heavy rain-steam beginning on page 7 (be sure to look at pages 22-23 also):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xhjh42zw83fxxdo/September%203-8%202017.pdf?dl=1  



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