Japan Churns Through ‘Heroic’ Workers Hitting Radiation Limits

[jpak]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-17/japan-churns-through-heroic-workers-hitting-radiation-limits-for-humans.html

More workers were drafted for the frontline of Japan’s biggest nuclear disaster as radiation limits forced Tokyo Electric Power Co. to replace members of its original team trying to avert a nuclear meltdown.

The utility increased its workforce at the Fukushima Dai- Ichi plant to 322 yesterday from 180 on March 16 as it tried to douse water over exposed nuclear fuel rods to prevent melting and leaking lethal radiation. Levels beside the exposed rods would deliver a fatal dose in 16 seconds, said David Lochbaum, a nuclear physicist for the Union of Concerned Scientists and a former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission safety instructor.

The permissible cumulative radiation exposure was more than doubled two days ago to extend the time nuclear workers could legally spend onsite. Emissions have risen since the plant was rocked by the March 11 quake. An hour’s exposure in some areas equates to half the annual maximum level, said John Price, a Melbourne-based consultant on industrial accidents and former safety policy staffer at the U.K.’s National Nuclear Corp.

“They have an access time of 10 to 25 hours at the most,” Price, 60, said in a telephone interview yesterday. “At that rate, you are going to go through workers very fast.”

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[ensho]

1. kick

nt

[Ian David]

2. This must be the only office in the world where they don't waste time playing Farmville. n/t

[LiberalFighter]

3. And Lamar Alexander thinks the radiation exposure is insignificant.

[The Backlash Cometh]

4. Our prayers are with them.

[jpak]

5. In the past, untrained workers used for work in highly radioactive environments were called

"glow slaves"

There have been persistent rumors for years that China used (political) prisoners for this type of work - some rumors claim that India used uneducated workers for this as well at its nuclear facilities.