Worker Who Worked in Reactor 3 Turbine Building in March Last Year Has Filed a Complaint Against TEPCO's Subcontractor Kandenko

Remember an incident on March 24, 2011 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant, in which three workers got irradiated stepping into a highly contaminated "water puddle" in the Reactor 3 turbine building as they were laying power cables?

(Remember the water "puddle" in TEPCO's and now-defunct NISA's parlance turned out to be a flooded basement.)

One of the workers from the same group as these three has formally filed a complaint against the 1st-tier subcontractor who hired them (Kandenko) for violation of the Labor Safety and Health Law.

His beef: A group of TEPCO workers in the same work location withdrew, after measuring a very high radiation (400 millisieverts/hour on the water surface), but his contractor, TEPCO's major subcontractor Kandenko (whose share TEPCO holds), ordered his group to stay and do the work.

Now that's not what was reported in March last year.

According to Tokyo Shinbun (11/1/2012; part):

The 46-year-old man who worked for a subcontractor [of Kandenko] in Iwaki City was engaged in a work to lay power cables in the Reactor 3 turbine building on March 24, 2011, soon after the start of the nuclear accident.

According to the man, he had been told that the radiation levels were low enough not to endanger workers, but in reality there was a massive amount of highly contaminated water, and the radiation was high.

Another group of workers made of TEPCO employees measured 400 millisieverts/hour radiation in the Reactor 3 [turbine building] basement, and they withdrew. However, the group that this worker belonged to was ordered to continue the work.

Sensing danger, the worker refused the part of the work which would have him step into the contaminated water, but he still got exposed to over 11 millisieverts of radiation in 40 to 60 minutes. Of 6 workers in the group including this man, 3 workers stepped in the contaminated water, and their radiation exposures from this one-time work were 172 to 180 millisieverts. These are almost twice as high as the normal radiation exposure limit of "100 millisieverts in 5 years".

The attorneys of the man accuse Kandenko for violating the law by forcing the workers to continue to work when another group of workers in the same location withdrew to avoid the exposure to high radiation, and demand punishment.

I looked up my own posts from March last year (here, and here, and here) and other newspaper articles, and this is what I've gathered (again):

1. Before that particular work, TEPCO had said the radiation level was low, and there was NO PUDDLE.

Kyodo News on Thursday March 25, 2011 reported:

TEPCO said Wednesday there was no puddle at the site and the radiation level was just around a few millisieverts per hour.

However, on Wednesday March 24, 2011 when TEPCO was saying there was no puddle and radiation was low in Reactor 3 turbine building, Asahi reported:

Reactor No.3: Black smoke subsided by 4:30AM. TEPCO decided that it was safe to resume work, and has directing the workers to restore cooling pumps.

The period between March 20 and 23, 2011 is when there was an event, probably at Reactor 3, that released a significant amount of radioactive materials from the plant which spread to wide areas in Tohoku and Kanto.

2. The "puddle" was 1.5 meter deep, and the water had 3.9 million becquerels/cubic centimeter of radioactive materials (cesium).

One day later on March 25, 2011 Yomiuri reported that the "puddle" in Reactor 3 turbine building was actually 1.5 meters (4.92 feet) deep at the deepest end. The location where the workers worked supposedly only had water 15 centimeter deep.

Asahi reported "puddle" had 3.9 million becquerels of radioactive cesium per cubic centimeter (Asahi, 3/26/2012).

3. 400 millisieverts/hour at water surface, 200 millisieverts/hour in air.

The radiation level on the water surface was 400 millisieverts/hour, and the air radiation level was 200 millisieverts/hour, according to Kyodo News English.

4. Blame was placed on the workers for not measuring the radiation, not wearing the boots.

The same Kyodo News reported:

The workers did not measure the radiation amount before starting the cable-laying work on Thursday, it said.

5. Irradiated workers were young, wearing only Tyvek suits.

Workers who were exposed to 172 - 180 millisieverts of radiation were in their 20s and 30s. The workers were wearing Tyvek suits. We all know now that nonwoven Tyvek suits do not shield radiation at all, but at that time, we didn't know better, and many were led to believe Tyvek suits mean safety from radiation.

6. The workers who stepped in the water were exposed to 2 to 6 SIEVERTS of radiation on their feet.　

But it was deemed "no danger to life" because the exposure was only on feet, not the whole body.

To put the "400 millisieverts/hour" radiation in perspective, the radiation level on the water surface inside the Reactor 1 Containment Vessel, measured on October 10 this year, was 0.5 sievert/hour, or 500 millisieverts/hour.

The air radiation level of 200 millisieverts/hour can be found on the operation floor of Reactor 2, which released the largest amount of radioactive materials. Quince 2 mapped the radiation levels on June 13 this year, measuring between 40 to 880 millisieverts/hour. TEPCO concluded that they couldn't send human workers for any work, as the radiation levels were simply too high.

In the early days, that was clearly never a problem.

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Tokyo Shinbun's original article, 11/1/2012 (as archive, as their articles disappear very quickly):

東京電力福島第一原発事故の収束作業で、東電と作業を請け負った関電工（東京都港区）が、高い放射線量の中で被ばくを最小限に抑えるよう必要な措置をせず、作業を続けさせたのは労働安全衛生法違反に当たるとして、福島県いわき市の元作業員男性（４６）が、両社を同県富岡労働基準監督署に申し立てた。　

いわき市の下請け会社に所属していた男性は、事故が発生して間もない昨年三月二十四日、３号機タービン建屋内で、電源ケーブルを敷設する作業に従事した。

男性によると、事前の説明では、作業に危険はない程度の線量だと聞いていたが、実際には、建屋地下には大量の高濃度汚染水がたまり、線量も高かった。

東電社員らの別の作業班は、３号機地下で毎時四〇〇ミリシーベルトの放射線量を計測したため、撤退した。しかし、男性グループは作業継続を指示された。

男性は危険を感じ、汚染水につかる作業は拒否したが、四十分～一時間ほどで一一ミリシーベルト超を被ばくした。男性を含む六人の作業員のうち、脚が汚染水につかった三人の被ばく線量は、この一回の作業で一七三～一八〇ミリシーベルトに上った。これは通常の被ばく線量限度「五年間で一〇〇ミリシーベルト」の二倍近くに当たる値だった。

男性の弁護団は、同じ場所で別の作業班が高線量の危険を避けるため撤退したのに、関電工が作業を継続させ、作業員を危険にさらしたのは違法だとして、関電工に対する処罰を求めた。

発注者の東電に対しては、関電工の違法行為を止めなかったなどとして、線量管理や放射線防護のあり方を是正するよう求めた。

男性は「一つ間違えば命に関わった。末端の作業員は危険手当もろくにもらわず、被ばくしながら命懸けで作業をしている。東電や元請け会社の責任は重い」と訴えた。

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#Fukushima I Nuke Plant: Radiated Workers Are from Subcontractor of Subcontractor of TEPCO

So the rumors that I've been hearing on the Japanese message boards may have been true: that TEPCO asks (many on the message boards say "demands") the subcontractors to do the dirty and dangerous work for TEPCO at the Fukushima I Nuke Plant, with the veiled threat that they won't get future contracts if they refuse to offer workers (that's what these message board posters have been saying).

Yomiuri Shinbun reports that the two workers hospitalized for radiation exposure are from a subcontractor of Kandenko, whose largest shareholder is TEPCO who holds 46.12% of Kandenko. Kandenko is one of the largest electrical and communication equipment installation companies in Japan. Kandenko is a general contractor who uses subcontractors for individual works.

So these two were offered by a Kandenko's subcon at the request from Kandenko, who TEPCO, as the largest shareholder, asked (or demanded) to work on the troubled reactors at Fukushima. Never mind that Kandenko does not have expertise in nuclear power generation, other than, probably, wiring the control rooms. Kandenko's workers and workers at Kandenko's subcontractors probably are not aware of the procedure in the nuclear power plant even in normal time, not to mention the procedure with radiated water puddles and semi-darkness in a broken nuclear reactor building.

For their line of work - laying power cables on the dry ground - they wouldn't need long boots or full protective face masks.

One of the workers is in late 20s, the other in their early 30s. Kandenko's president and chairman should have gone instead.

I was amazed that Yomiuri actually named the TEPCO's affiliated company, particularly after I read a piece praising the sacrifice of one TEPCO worker.

(TEPCO is one of the biggest advertisers on TV in Japan.)

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