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Eugene

(61,964 posts)
Sat Oct 12, 2013, 11:50 AM Oct 2013

U.N. panel says Japan nuclear workers may have got higher radiation: report

Source: Reuters

U.N. panel says Japan nuclear workers may have got higher radiation: report

TOKYO | Sat Oct 12, 2013 6:49am EDT

(Reuters) - Japanese authorities may have underestimated by 20 percent the radiation doses workers got in the initial phase of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster, a Japanese newspaper reported on Saturday, citing a U.N. panel.

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The U.N. Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) raised doubts about the dose estimates of the government and Tokyo Electric, or Tepco, in a summary of a report on October 12, according to the Asahi Shimbun.

The U.N. committee analyzed radiation doses in 25,000 people who worked at the plant on or before October 2012, using data provided by the government, Tepco and others, the newspaper said.

It determined that the tests used on workers did not take into account some types of radiation.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/12/us-japan-fukushima-radiation-idUSBRE99B03H20131012

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U.N. panel says Japan nuclear workers may have got higher radiation: report (Original Post) Eugene Oct 2013 OP
No kidding. Gee, what a surprise. Demeter Oct 2013 #1
Perspective? PamW Oct 2013 #2

PamW

(1,825 posts)
2. Perspective?
Sat Oct 12, 2013, 06:32 PM
Oct 2013

How does the amount of radiation exposure received by the workers; including the extra 20% above what TEPCO reported; how does that compare to the amount of radiation we all get whether or not we work at a nuclear power plant.

One has to remember that there's plenty of radioactive material in the Earth which is a result of the thermonuclear reactions in the stars whose supernova created the material this planet is made of.

Then there's the radiation that we all receive from cosmic rays because the universe is just filled with unshielded thermonuclear fusion reactors that we call "stars".

Additionally, there's all the radiation exposure that is used for medical diagnosis and treatment.

To get a better understanding of the radiation we all get whether or not we work at a nuclear power plant, let alone a nuclear power plant that has had an accident, see:

http://www.umich.edu/~radinfo/introduction/radrus.htm

as well as the following from Professor Richard Muller of the Physics Department at University of California - Berkeley:

The Panic Over Fukushima

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444772404577589270444059332.html

The good thing about science is that it is true, whether or not you believe it.
--Neil deGrasse Tyson

PamW

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