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Friday
Jul272012

TEPCO subcontractor used lead to fake dosimeter readings at Fukushima plant

replica of lead plate believed to be used to shield dosimiters thus falsifying worker doseWorkers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant were ordered to cover their dosimeters with lead plates to keep radiation doses low enough to continue working under dangerous conditions, the Asahi Shimbun has learned.

Some refused the orders. Others raised questions about their safety and the legality of the practice. But the man in charge, a senior official of a subcontractor of Tokyo Electric Power Co., warned them that they would lose their jobs--and any chance of employment at other nuclear plants--if they failed to comply. Asahi Shimbun

See also Ministry to search for dosimeter shields at Fukushima plant

Officials of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry will search for lead plates that workers at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant used to shield their dosimeters and later discarded on the plant grounds.