#Radioactive Japan with No Money Part 2: Government/TEPCO to Cover Annual Cancer Screening Costs of Only 3.7% of #Fukushima I Nuke Plant Workers

That's 904 workers out of 24,118 who have worked at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant since March 2011, up to September this year.

It's still over 5-fold increase, though. Originally when Prime Minister Noda declared a "cold shutdown state" to the ridicule of the world on December 16, 2011, only 167 workers who had exceeded the cumulative radiation of 100 millisieverts one day prior were to be fully covered by the national government for annual cancer screening for life, but no one else.

In August this year, TEPCO (at that time already effectively nationalized) was kind enough to lower the limit to 50 millisieverts, but the exposure should have been sustained by December 16, 2011 to qualify for the free checkups.

How much does a cancer screening test cost?　About 50,000 yen (US$610). 45.2 million yen (about US$549,000) per year for 904 people, instead of 1.2 billion yen (US$15 million) per year for 24,118 people.

The Japanese government is paying 22 trillion yen (US$268 billion), or about a quarter of the annual budget, in interest payments for its enormous debt. "We owe it to ourselves", say the Japanese citizens, analysts, politicians alike.

I guess they don't feel they owe it to the subcon workers at Fukushima I Nuke Plant.

From Asahi Shinbun (11/22/2012; part):

【青木美希】東京電力福島第一原発で原発事故から今年９月までに働いた２万４１１８人のうち、国と東電のがん検診制度を無料で受けられるのは９０４人で全体の３．７％にとどまることがわかった。国と東電が、５０ミリシーベルト超の放射線を昨年１２月の野田政権による事故収束宣言までに浴びた場合に限る、と期限を切ったからだ。東電は「不安に思う作業員から相談は受ける」という。相談窓口は鈴木正勇弁護士で、電話０３・３５９７・０７４１。

(Report by Miki Aoki) It has been revealed that only 904 workers, or 3.7% of the 24,118 workers who have worked at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant since the start of the accident up to September this year will be able to receive free cancer screening tests from the national government and TEPCO. It is because the national government and TEPCO will allow free cancer tests only to workers who had already received more than 50 millisieverts of radiation by the December [16] declaration by the Noda administration that the accident was over. TEPCO says the workers who are worried can still talk to the company by calling 03-3597-0741 to speak with [TEPCO's] attorney.

収束宣言が出たとはいえ、福島第一原発では高線量下での作業が続く。例えば、９月にも２４人が積算５０ミリシーベルトを超えたが、特別措置対象の東電社員２人をのぞく２２人は、無料のがん検診を受けられない。

Even after the declaration that the nuclear accident is over, the work at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant is carried out in a high radiation environment. For example, 24 workers exceeded cumulative radiation exposure of 50 millisieverts just this September. However, except for 2 TEPCO employees who are exempt [from the government/TEPCO rule], 22 workers won't be eligible for free cancer screening tests.

厚生労働省は福島第一原発の作業員を「緊急作業に従事する作業者」とし、うち１００ミリシーベルトを超える放射線を浴びた人は、生涯にわたり年１回、無料でがん検診を受けられる制度を昨年１０月に設けた。

Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare set up the system last October which designated the workers at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant as "workers engaged in emergency work" and allowed them to receive annual cancer screening tests for free for life if their cumulative radiation level exceeded 100 millisieverts.

検診費（１回約５万円）は雇用主の会社が負担するが、作業員が会社をやめた場合は、国が負担することにしていた。

The cost (about 50,000 yen [US$610]) would be borne by the employers, and if the workers quit, the national government would pay the cost.

ところが、野田政権が昨年１２月１６日に事故の収束を宣言すると、厚労省は「緊急作業は原則的に終了した」として、宣言前日までに１００ミリシーベルトを超えた人に対象を限定。１６７人で確定させた。

However, when the Noda administration declared the end of the nuclear accident on December 16 last year, Ministry of Health decided that the emergency work was now basically over and limited the number of workers eligible for the free annual cancer checkups to 167 who had already exceeded 100 millisieverts as of December 15, 2011, one day prior to the declaration.


東電は今年８月、収束宣言までに５０ミリシーベルト超を浴びた作業員６６３人を無料検診の対象に加える救済措置を実施した。また、特定の作業をする一部東電社員は収束宣言後に５０ミリを超えても無料にする特別の措置を始め、これまでに７４人が対象となった。

This August, TEPCO announced the remedial measures whereby 663 workers who had exceeded 50 millisieverts by the time of the declaration would be added to the workers who could receive free checkups. In addition, some TEPCO employees who carry out particular work will receive free checkups even if they exceed 50 millisieverts after the declaration, and there are 74 such employees so far.

福島第一原発では、９月単月でみても、２７人が１０～２０ミリシーベルトの放射線を浴びた。通常、各原発で仕事をしている業者が年間２０ミリ未満を管理基準にしていることからもわかるように高線量で、作業員からは「期限を設けず全員を対象にすべきだ」との声が上がっている。健康管理の問題を甘く見過ぎると、労働者が福島第一原発の作業を敬遠し、４０年かかるとされる廃炉作業が滞りかねない。

At Fukushima I Nuke Plant, in September alone, 27 workers were exposed to 10 to 20 millisieverts of radiation, which is very high, as evidenced by the 20 millisieverts per year standard used by the companies that work in nuclear power plants. There are workers at Fukushima I Nuke plant who say all workers should be included in the program [of free annual cancer screening tests]. If this health management problem is underestimated, workers may start avoiding the work at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, causing the delay in decommissioning which is estimated to last for more than 40 years.

40 years. That's why some right-wing politicians (including the vice governor of Tokyo) have been talking about reinstating the draft and send young people to work at the plant, willing or not.

As you see, the declaration in December last year that the cold shutdown "state" was achieved and the nuclear accident was over was made so that the national government would not need to spend extraordinary amount of money on the workers at the plant and to the residents in Fukushima who were displaced by the nuclear accident. Instead, the government have been generously giving money to general contractors doing the "decontamination" and transporting disaster debris full of asbestos and heavy metals as well as radioactive materials to be burned and buried in faraway places like Osaka and Kitakyushu.

LDP politicians, already planning for their administration (or at least how to spend more taxpayers' money once they get there, which they have no doubt about), wants to have a supplementary budget to the tune of 5 trillion yen or more right after the election. You can bet none of the money is going to Fukushima I Nuke Plant workers.

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