Safety of workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

摘要

The 9.0 magnitude earthquake and following tsunami on March 11, 2011, destroyed many coastal cities in the northeastern part of Japan. It swamped emergency generators at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant operated by the Tokyo Electric Power Company in Fukushima prefecture, disabling the cooling systems. Since these catastrophic events, hundreds of nuclear workers have been trying to remove the radioactive water from the tsunami-ravaged nuclear compound and restart the regular cooling systems for the overheated nuclear fuel. On March 15, the Japanese Government announced that the permissible cumulative radiation exposure for nuclear workers was increased to 250 mSv per year from 100 mSv per year. The purpose of this increase seems to be merely to extend the time nuclear workers could legally spend in a radioactive area. On April 12, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency of Japan decided to raise the severity level of the crisis to 7-the highest level and equal to the 1986 disaster at Chernobyl in the former Soviet Union. We emphasise the need to predict potential scenarios in Fukushima and to prepare medical care providers for how to respond in cases of accidental high radiation exposure, since this operation is estimated to take months to years.