Japan Firm ‘Told Workers to Lie’ About Radiation Dose

[Hissyspit]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Japan firm ‘told workers to lie’ about radiation dose

By Agence France-Presse
Saturday, July 21, 2012 6:02 EDT

A subcontractor at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant told workers to lie about possible high radiation exposure in an apparent effort to keep its contract, reports said Saturday.

An executive at construction firm Build-Up in December told about 10 of its workers to cover their dosimeters, used to measure cumulative radiation exposure, with lead casings when working in areas with high radiation, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper and other media said.

The action was apparently designed to under-report their exposure to allow the company to continue working at the site of the worst nuclear disaster in a generation, media reports said.

- snip -

Without faking the exposure level, the executive told the workers they would quickly reach the legally permissible annual exposure limit of 50 millisieverts, according to the Asahi.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/21/japan-firm-told-workers-to-lie-about-radiation-dose

[grahamhgreen]

1. Disgusting.

[panzerfaust]

2. Worse moral lapse than (current) Denver shootings

My two favorite oxymorons:

Military Intelligence
Business Ethics - this latter applying here.

The horrific actions of the Denver gun-nut have savaged the victims and hundreds of people in their families. The lack of any discernible sense of ethics in the world of business is destroying democracy ... think Citizen's United.

A good thing it would be if we had a president who was willing to stand up against business corruption and gun-worship pressure groups - not to mention one who would dismantle the growing American surveillance and police state.



Sadly, we do not, and did not.

--------------------
Preempting Pedantic Postings: I recognize one must accept a certain Weltbild to find these phrases oxomoronic.

[Trillo]

11. Is it a "moral lapse" or a pattern-of-conduct repeated daily in high places? NT

[xchrom]

3. Du rec. Nt

[madokie]

4. Why am I not surprised

Because thats what the nuclear power industries MO is, LIE and when that doesn't work lie some more.

[sofa king]

7. And also because many DUers smelled a rat from day one.

It would be interesting to go back to those debates now and see exactly whom was defending the Japanese authorities so vehemently here at DU, because I distinctly recall that happening--for weeks--until the ruse wore thin and tattered.

I now suspect that those people were part of an international public relations campaign, probably agreed upon by multiple governments including the U.S., quite possibly paid to sow doubt and disinformation so that the most inexpensive solution--doing nothing--would be chosen over mitigation.

That choice is going to shorten the lives of untold numbers of people around the world, possibly including people here in the US, and it is now clear that that choice was intentional and deliberately chosen.

I think it is time to hunt those people down and hold them accountable.

[raouldukelives]

9. I think your 100% correct.

I recall around the same time a decision being made on billions of dollars of loans to US nuclear power being on the table. All they care about is the green and it is not a long stretch to think they would do whatever it takes to ensure they get a hold of it.
They will lie, cheat & steal. They will cut corners and pad payouts. They will kill us, eventually. If we stand in the way of that money. The strongest act one can do now is not take part in it. Refuse to continue to support the juggernaut of Wall St and global corporations. It really is the least you can do.

[Art_from_Ark]

17. This incident had nothing to do with TEPCO or government obfuscation

It was a local Fukushima building subcontractor called Build-Up that is located in a town that had been (and still is) partially evacuated due to the disaster that was responsible for this. Late last year (around November 30), TEPCO would supply the subcontractor Build-Up with dosimeters for the employees of Build-Up, who were then told at their daily briefing conducted by Build-Up to place lead sheaths (made by Build-Up out of lead sheathing for pipes) over their dosimeters to hide the actual radiation levels.

Original Japanese news articles
From the Asahi Shimbun

http://www.asahi.com/national/update/0721/TKY201207210176.html

from the Tokyo Broadcasting System:
http://news.tbs.co.jp/newseye/tbs_newseye5086923.html

On edit: Here is another article where the Build-Up company official who ordered the lead sheathing of the dosimeters is claiming that the incident happened only once. Whether he's telling the truth or not, I can't say.

http://www.sankeibiz.jp/compliance/news/120722/cpb1207221134001-n1.htm

[DCKit]

20. You got that right. nt

[Art_from_Ark]

18. As much as I don't like the nuclear power industry,

the guilty party in this incident was a local Fukushima building subcontractor, not anyone directly connected with the nuclear power industry or government.

[madokie]

26. If you are working for, you are connected too

Pretty simple
Its a prefect example of how the industry uses any and all ways to duck under the radar. Whether it be cases like this or a death. They do not and I repeat, do not, accept any responsibility if at all possible to not do so. Its the nuclear power industries MO and has been since day one.

[obxhead]

5. Wow.

Only some of the worker refused.

How badly in need of money do you have to be to take a higher dose of radiation than legally allowed to get it.

This brief article is disgusting and sad on so many levels.

[Art_from_Ark]

19. This is not just a matter of money

The building subcontractor who was responsible for this is located in a town called Namie that was partially evacuated due to the disaster. In all likelihood, the employees were residents of the local area. This town Namie has been particularly hard-hit by the disaster, struggling to keep going amidst extreme adversity. No doubt receiving an income in a place whose economy has been devastated was part of the reason why only some of the workers refused. But given that this is Japan, and given the reputation for being tough survivors that the people in that part of Japan have, I can well imagine that a lot of those workers went along because they wanted to try to do something, anything, (in this case, clean up from the nuclear accident) that would help their town to recover from this disaster.

[obxhead]

21. Exactly!

How hard off do you have to be?

Everything you just said is pretty damn hard. I see our personal property value down by so much and our horrible economy and I couldn't imagine if fallout damage was just one more blow to my 'net worth'.

So I ask, how bad must it get before you'll accept a possible lethal dose of radiation for your family, life, home etc?

It's so devastatingly sad that anyone would have to not only think about it, but actually go walk into it KNOWING they are hurting (killing) themselves and covering for the corp.

I can't imagine living through anything in your response and I live 5 miles from a nuke plant. Would I be able to do it? You know, I say hell no, but the desire to survive is always there.

[Art_from_Ark]

23. Namie is really getting socked

I just read on the town's web page that road access from two adjacent municipalities has been completely blocked or severely restricted.

For example, this notice from April 2012 says that all prefectural (state) and local roads between Namie and Minami Soma City were blocked off and that the only access was through a check point on a national highway:

http://www.town.namie.fukushima.jp/?p=12271

And this notice from just a few days ago says that even the national highway that was open between Namie and Iidate Village has been closed, so that there is currently no road access between the two municipalities:

http://www.town.namie.fukushima.jp/?p=15635

The people who remain there must be having a really hard time coping.

[Brooklyn Dame]

6. Truly pathetic...

....especially considering how many are still suffering. It's good this is coming out -- but it has been an issue for longer than people here may know

http://borderlessnewsandviews.com/2012/07/earthquake-and-tsunami-bring-new-issues-to-light/

[SalmonChantedEvening]

8. Done to maintain the bottom line. Sickening. NT

[truthisfreedom]

10. "let's go die and make money!"

[hunter]

12. In the USA such abuses are unwritten and unspoken.

In many places employees simply know they'll lose their jobs if they report unsafe or unfair working conditions.

They work with unsafe chemicals, without proper safety equipment, they are expected to work "off the clock" by punching out before they change their clothes and catch up on paperwork, etc., etc.

Apparently our bosses are a craftier lot... whenever such abuses are exposed they don't know nothing.

[freshwest]

13. Ah, those high business ethics in play again. Nice, smooth.

[chervilant]

15. More dissembling

about Fukushima--why am I NOT surprised?

From the get-go, I remember posting observations about how bad is this horrific catastrophe, and quite a few people responded with ridicule and derision.

Where are those naysayers now?

***crickets***

[Art_from_Ark]

16. I'm not sure what you mean, but...

As someone who is living just 100 miles or so south of the reactors, I was a little annoyed at the completely unfounded rumors that were being spread on this board in the days and months immediately following the nuclear explosions.

For example, there were rumors that ordinary American citizens were being forcibly evacuated from Japan (US citizens who weren't government employees were NOT being forcibly evacuated, they were just being advised to stay well away from the disaster area), that there would no longer be any "hanami" cherry tree parties (I myself attended one just a few weeks after the explosions, and another DUer who also lives in Japan posted pictures of his hanami party), and that half of Japan would become uninhabitable (I'm still here, 100 miles south of the site, and I have traveled to areas much closer to the site where life still goes on pretty much as it did before the disaster).

What's more, the airborne radiation levels here (which are monitored by multiple government and academic organizations) are now near normal, after having temporarily increased to 10 times normal immediately after the explosions, and hovering around 2 times normal for several months after that. There are a few "hot spots" in this area where the radiation levels in the soil are still higher than normal, and a lot of dirt was removed from playgrounds and school yards as a precautionary measure in those areas, but with the exceptions of the 12-mile exclusion zone (parts of which have now been blocked off to road traffic) and a few places beyond (particularly to the NW of the reactors), it is nowhere near as bad as the direst predictions were painting it to be.

[chervilant]

28. OIC...

You seem to be suggesting that those of us who expressed concern about the Fukushima disaster indulged in hyperbole, and had little or no 'facts' upon which to base our concern. Do you think us all the Chicken Littles of the Fukushima catastrophe?

Here is a short list of MY concerns, valid since the day of the disaster:

~radiation escaping into the ocean and habitable areas outside the "exclusion zone."

~meltdown in one or more cores.

~contamination of food fish, seaweed, and other foodstuffs.

~spikes in cancer rates proximal to the disaster zone.

~extreme difficulties 'cleaning up' the disaster.

~a sizeable area around the plant rendered uninhabitable for several lifetimes.

You may have traveled "to areas much closer to the site where life still goes on pretty much as it did before the disaster," but this does NOT negate the fact that radiation was and still is escaping from the damaged reactors. This radiation STILL represents a threat.

[Art_from_Ark]

32. Nope, I'm not belittling legitimate concerns

What I was complaining about were the unfounded rumors being spread here at that time because I knew, due to my vantage point here in Japan, between Tokyo and the reactors, is that a lot of those rumors were hyperbole, even scare-mongering. Please read my list again.

I have always maintained that the people who will suffer the most from this, by far, are the people of Fukushima, and that is what is implied from your list as well. I have also maintained that the situation in much of the eastern part of Fukushima prefecture is still not good, and some recent developments indicate that the airborne radiation levels are not improving in some areas.

[Bonobo]

22. Like the "observation" that there would be half-a million dead in 6 months?

Some people make me want to curse or cry. It's like they want it to be worse than it was to sit their own view of the world and their agenda.

20,00 people died that day and people (like you?) don't SEEM to give a shit.

But you are ready to pounce as soon as something like this story comes out even though, as Art pointed out, it was a small subcontractor that did the lying and NOT Tepco OR the Japanese Govt.

Here is a reminder. 20,000 died from the tsunami and ZERO died from the radiation.

[Hissyspit]

24. Zero died from the radiation?

?

[Bonobo]

25. Yup.nt

[Hissyspit]

27. You mean immediately.

And not counting the two workers who died.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/why-the-fukushima-disaster-is-worse-than-chernobyl-2345542.html

- snip -

Some scientists say Fukushima is worse than the 1986 Chernobyl accident, with which it shares a maximum level-7 rating on the sliding scale of nuclear disasters. One of the most prominent of them is Dr Helen Caldicott, an Australian physician and long time anti-nuclear activist who warns of "horrors to come" in Fukushima.

Chris Busby, a professor at the University of Ulster known for his alarmist views, generated controversy during a Japan visit last month when he said the disaster would result in more than 1 million deaths. "Fukushima is still boiling its radionuclides all over Japan," he said. "Chernobyl went up in one go. So Fukushima is worse."

- snip -

Death toll
Fukushima: Two workers died inside the plant. Some scientists predict that one million lives will be lost to cancer.
Chernobyl: It is difficult to say how many people died on the day of the disaster because of state security, but Greenpeace estimates that 200,000 have died from radiation-linked cancers in the 25 years since the accident.

- snip -

But many experts warn that the crisis is just beginning. Professor Tim Mousseau, a biological scientist who has spent more than a decade researching the genetic impact of radiation around Chernobyl, says he worries that many people in Fukushima are "burying their heads in the sand." His Chernobyl research concluded that biodiversity and the numbers of insects and spiders had shrunk inside the irradiated zone, and the bird population showed evidence of genetic defects, including smaller brain sizes.

"The truth is that we don't have sufficient data to provide accurate information on the long-term impact," he says. "What we can say, though, is that there are very likely to be very significant long-term health impact from prolonged exposure."

[Bonobo]

31. Well, yes.

I don't think anyone believes those workers died from radiation.

As for those "ahem" "estimates", I think they are not worth much.

How long was it before birth defect started to show up in Chernobyl? My memory says it was already within the first couple years. So far there have been none here.

Am I worried? Yes. Do I enjoy seeing the mental masturbation that takes place on this board whenever the subject comes up? Not in the least.

[chervilant]

29. How rude.

You have no idea who I am or what emotions I experienced as I watched live footage of the tsunami. My concern about Fukushima in no way negates my compassion for the people who lost their lives in the tsunami.

TEPCO and the government of Japan have done their fair share of dissembling, Bonobo. But, don't let that stop you from stomping your widdle feets and posting defensive, rude screeds.

[Bonobo]

30. You're right. I DON'T know you.

That's why it perplexes me why you would take general comments I made so personally as IF I knew you.

I have a right to give my perspective and if you find it rude, perhaps it is an opportunity for you to learn what other kinds of viewpoints there are.

I live in Japan for the past 3 years and have been coming here every year for the last 25 years. It is where my family and my heart is. I have every right to a viewpoint on the matter whether it bothers you or not.

But mostly I want to say that yes, I do not personally intend to say you do not feel compassion for the tsunami victims, but OVERALL, in general, the amount of attention paid to the Fukushima situation OVER the tsunami recovery is out of whack considering the amount of pain felt by the people that actually live here.