#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Government Planning to Raise the Radiation Limit for Plant Workers to 500 Milli-Sievert/Year

(Update on the topic in my later post. 250 milli-sievert/year is just a stepping stone.)
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from the current 250 milli-sievert/year, which was raised from 100 milli-sievert/year after the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident.

From Nihon Television News 24 (4/18/2011):

In order to stabilize the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, the government is planning to raise the radiation exposure limit for the workers from the current 250 milli-sievert/year.

The radiation exposure limit for workers at nuclear power plants is 100 milli-sievert/year, but the limit has been raised to 250 milli-sievert/year to deal with the Fukushima I Nuke Plant accident. According to the government sources, the higher limit is being considered because it is getting increasingly difficult to have enough workers to work on the plant. Also, the radiation inside the Reactor buildings is high, and the annual limit of 250 milli-sieverts may not be high enough to achieve the goals laid out by the TEPCO road map.

The international standard allows 500 milli-sievert/year in an emergency work, but it hasn't been decided how high the new limit will be. The government will carefully assess the timing of announcement, keeping in consideration the health concerns of the workers and the public opinion.

The work at the [Fukuhsima I] nuclear power plant requires skills and experience under harsh conditions, and securing workers has been a problem.

福島第一原子力発電所事故の安定化に向け、政府が作業員の年間被ばく量の上限を、現在の２５０ミリシーベルトよりさらに上げることを検討していることがわかった。
　 原子力発電所の作業員に認められる放射線量の限度は年間１００ミリシーベルトだが、今回の事故に限り、２５０ミリシーベルトまで引き上げられている。政府 関係者によると、十分な作業員の数の確保が難しくなっていることや、原子炉建屋内の放射線量が高く、今回引き上げた２５０ミリシーベルトの上限では原子炉 の安定化に向けたロードマップの実現に追いつかないことから、上限の引き上げを検討しているという。
　国際基準では、緊急作業の場合は年間５００ミリシーベルトまで認められているが、今後どこまで引き上げることになるのかは決まっていない。作業員の健康不安や世論の動向などを見据えながら、引き上げの時期や方法についても慎重に検討するという。
　原子力発電所内部の作業は、労働環境の厳しさに加えて、技能と経験が必要とされるため、作業員の人数の確保が大きな課題となっている。

If I remember right, 500 milli-sievert/year is for an emergency work that lasts for a few days to a few weeks, and not for a few months to a year or more. Same thing for raising the radiation exposure limit for non-nuclear plant workers for an emergency; that emergency is not supposed to last for more than few weeks.

I also hear that the government is planning to raise the annual radiation exposure limit for pregnant women. Instead of evacuating the expecting mothers to safer, lower-radiation places, the government simply raises the exposure limit and tell them it's safe, don't worry. What a country.

It is a genocide. Not much different from Colonel Gaddafi killing the fellow Libyans.

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