Around 2,000 people who have worked at Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant face a heightened risk of thyroid cancer, its operator said Friday.
Around 2,000 people who have worked at
Japan
's
wrecked
Fukushima
nuclear plant face a heightened risk of thyroid cancer, its operator said
Friday.
Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco, said 1,973 people--around 10% 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 tenfold increase from 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 by doctors to be a possible threshold for
increased cancer risk.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant became the site of the worst nuclear
disaster in a generation after the massive tsunami of March 2011 destroyed its
cooling systems.
The plant's reactors went through meltdowns that caused explosions in the
buildings housing them, spewing radioactive materials into the air, sea and soil.
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 fragility of the wrecked plant was brought into sharp relief again Thursday
with the discovery of steam in the roofless building around Reactor 3.
Tepco said Friday that it still did not know exactly where the steam was coming
from, although readings showed it was no more radioactive than expected and
suggested it could have been accumulated rainwater.
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.
All 1,973 workers now deemed to be at increased risk of thyroid cancer are
eligible for an annual thyroid checkup and other health services paid for by
the company.
Tepco has already informed those affected about the health and monitoring
programs.
Tens of thousands of people were forced from their homes by the threat of
radiation in the immediate aftermath of the disaster, with many still unable to
return.
While the natural disaster claimed more than 18,000 lives, no one is officially
recorded as having died as a direct result of the radiation released by the
disaster.
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