"TEPCO's sloppy handling of suppressant led to spread of radioactive dust in 2013"
December 31, 2014 As reported by the Asahi Shimbun, it has been determined that the cause of large-scale radioactivity releases to air at Fukushima Daiichi was due to "sloppy handling" of dust suppressant, and a low priority placed on workers' and local residents' health and safety.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) was found to have diluted dust suppressant chemicals in ten to one hundred times too much water, and instead of applying them once per day, sometimes only applied them once per two months.
A dozen workers were thus contaminated with radioactive dust, and fallout extended 3 km (2 mi), during debris removal at the ruins of the Fukushima Daiichi Unit 3 reactor in summer 2013.
Previous Asahi Shimbun articles have reported that radioactive dust escaping the debris removal operations fell out over a wide area, even tens of km downwind, contaminating rice crops.