Login / RegisterJapanese newspaper reveals unethical efforts to hide high radiation levels
Japan'sAsahi Shimbun has a shocking story demonstrating how far companies are prepared to go to cover up a nuclear disaster.
The paper has reported that last year, a Tokyo Electric Power Company subcontractor ordered workers to put lead plates over dosimeters to reduce recorded radiation levels.
One Fukushima reactor worker also alleged that other workers entered the crippled power plant without dosimeters. That's because they were left in the back seat of vehicle in the parking lot.
"Officials of TEPCO, operator of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, insisted they had no inkling of the ingenious ways that radiation exposure levels were concealed," the paper noted. "However, on Aug. 3, a TEPCO official said that a worker for a subcontractor got on with his job without displaying a dosimeter. The official said the utility would look into the matter because the company had discovered other similar cases."
That's not all. Dosimeters were also reportedly hidden behind operating panels.
A "high-ranking official of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare who has been involved in periodic inspections at the Fukushima No. 1 plant" told the Asahi Shimbun that only a limited number of people are allowed to enter nuclear power plants.
"Even if we hear rumors that dosimeters are not being carried by workers, it is very difficult to obtain evidence for such practices," the official told the newspaper.
