Japan Earthquake

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Japan mulls evacuating radiation 'hot spots'
TOKYO, June 6, Kyodo

The government is considering expanding the scope of its evacuation order to include people from certain spots that are emitting high levels of radiation as a result of the nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in March, government officials said Monday.

The government will be discussing with municipalities these so-called ''hot spots'' suffering from radiation exposure that would exceed the yardstick of 20 millisieverts during the course of a year.

A hot spot refers to an area that has a high level of radiation following rain or as a result of landscape or wind conditions that affect the direction in which radioactive materials travel after being released into the air. english.kyodonews.jp
by LM 6/6/2011 5:34:57 PM

Scientists call for radiation exposure reduction
A group of scientists at Fukushima University is urging the prefectural government to take stronger precautions in reducing radiation exposure to citizens.

The croup comprises 12 associate professors at the university, including Hazuki Ishida, an environmental engineering specialist. On Monday they presented the Fukushima Governor with a 7-point request in
connection with the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.

A health risk management expert for the prefecture said that radiation exposure of up to 10 microsieverts per hour causes no health problems.

But for those remaining outdoors in such conditions for only 5 days, the total radiation exposure will exceed 1 millisievert, the annual limit for ordinary people, as recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection.
The professors called for reducing exposure to radioactivity as much as possible and urged the prefecture to establish guidelines toward this purpose.

They also asked that prefectural government radiation experts who say that even relatively low levels of radioactivity are harmful be included as health risk management advisors.
They also requested that the prefectural government draw up and make public a concrete plan to remove contaminated topsoil.
Ishida says the prefectural government should take measures to protect its residents, on the premise that even low levels of radiation exposure are dangerous.
Monday, June 06, 2011 22:31 +0900 (JST)
www3.nhk.or.jp
by LM 6/6/2011 5:36:24 PM

@edano it doesn't add up does it? sick enough for plant medics to send them to hospital, judged sickk enough at that hospital to need airlifting to another and then sent home to rest for 3 days ...
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 5:37:38 PM

@elainekirk : they daily speak about "dehydration" cases, and it's still not summertime. who knows.
by Edano 6/6/2011 5:39:28 PM

@elainekirk Dehydration can cause very serious symptoms. I don't find any of that unusual considering the circumstances.
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 5:40:38 PM

@Edano , rehydration should not take a week, right? There is more involved, perhaps kidney failure. These tepco news drive me nuts!
by Peter Melzer 6/6/2011 5:41:26 PM

@Peter Melzer : some hours.
by Edano 6/6/2011 5:42:06 PM

@elainekirk : do you have a link to the nisa report mentioned here: www3.nhk.or.jp ?
by Edano 6/6/2011 5:45:47 PM

@elainekirk , in many country first responders are legally not permitted to diagnose internal problems and take according actions, unless a life must be saved instantly. Hence, they have to get the patients to a physician quickly in an emergency. In Japan, that would be a hospitalist I suppose.
by Peter Melzer 6/6/2011 5:46:36 PM

@Edano - I am never here when you are here. I just wanted to thank you for all the good data you post everyday.
by Darren 6/6/2011 5:47:31 PM

@Darren : ty :)
by Edano 6/6/2011 5:47:58 PM

@Edano You're a MD, you know perfectly well dehydration can take a lot longer to recover from than some hours or even a week. Could you please clarify your answer?
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 5:50:41 PM

@Pedro Jesus : usually, if the patient has no other diseases, it takes some hours to cure dehydration. you attend him at hospital over one night.
by Edano 6/6/2011 5:53:02 PM

@Edano If... but severe dehydration can cause vital organs to fail along with other long term effects. It depends on the level of dehydration. So the week's rest is not at all unusual, considering the extreme conditions under which these workers are under.
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 5:56:45 PM

@pedro I am acutely aware of dehydration issues that is why I question someone declared seriously ill be two medical teams then arriving by helicopter at a third and being sent home to take it easy for 3 days.
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 5:57:07 PM

@elainekirk Well, can we complain about them being more careful ever since one worker collapsed and died the other day?
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 5:58:00 PM

Both workers suffered the same severe dehydration symptoms... at the same time?
by ms in la 6/6/2011 5:58:42 PM

@Pedro Jesus : they report deydration, not kidney failure or ischaemic issues or other complications. if they call it dehydration, it is either a lie or it is something to be easily cured within a day.
by Edano 6/6/2011 5:59:09 PM

@pedro and I mean by that that I do not believe all these miraculous recoveries and if indeed they do take place are we to believe tepco and the Japanese Government would not be parading them in public to show how 'safe and well' they are
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 5:59:23 PM

i really think they just use the word "dehydration" for everything to avoid the truth.
by Edano 6/6/2011 6:00:24 PM

Are these the same 2 workers or another set? From an article today:

Two Fukushima workers overexposed
06 June 2011

Two workers at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi plant have reportedly been exposed to radiation amounts exceeding the safety limit set by the government. According to tests on two control room operators conducted by the National Institute of Radiology Sciences, a worker in his 30s internally absorbed an estimated 218 to 580 millisieverts of radiation, while another worker in his 40s received between 200 and 570 millisieverts. Most of the radiation, the institute said, was in the men’s thyroid glands. The two men are reported not to be showing immediate health problems.

www.world-nuclear-news.org
by ms in la 6/6/2011 6:03:39 PM

@pedro it should be obvious to anybody reading these boards regularly that I have nothing but compassion for those workers I have made no suggestion that they were not ill I believe they were very ill where is there any evidence to say they are fit and well and home with their families?? nowhere and as for tepco being 'cautious' don't make me laugh they do not understand the word
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 6:04:15 PM

@ms in la There are 500 workers working there. Is that so unusual? @Edano Would you send a patient of yours back to work straight away after he dehydrated under those specific conditions? We're not talking about teaching or working in an office... it almost seems like you're implying that the hospitals and medical staff are working along with TEPCO, faking diagnoses to hide something more serious. We should be more careful. Conspiracy theories are not a good way of accomplishing what you are set to accomplish here, which is revealing the truth. I'm actually surprised we didn't have more reports of sickness among the Fukushima 500 so far.
by Pedro Jesus 6/6/2011 6:05:47 PM

@msinla No they are another two workers they are on another PR trip - release news of 2 workers ill no radiation - then- release news of two workers ill radiation involved- magic you immediately cause confusion about numbers and causes -
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 6:08:02 PM

www.b-fair.net
Have there been victims recognized as having contracted occupational diseases due to their work at the plant?

Paul Jobin: In 2002, I counted 8 cases recognized since 1991. Since then, there were few others, as far as is known, because there is a certain opacity in the system. I think for example of the case of Mr. Nagao. He had worked in Fukushima 1 and 2 between 1977 and 1982 and received a ***ulative dose of 70 mSv. Starting in 1986, he began experiencing all sorts of symptoms, lost his teeth, and in 1998, doctors diagnosed multiple myeloma. In 2002, he filed an application for recognition as having an occupational disease, which he obtained, not without difficulty, with the support of an associative network. Then he filed a lawsuit against TEPCO. His complaint was dismissed in 2009 in an all-too expeditious manner: the judge did not even bother to examine the medical opinions presented by the prosecution
by ms in la 6/6/2011 6:08:08 PM

@ms in la Thyroid, they mean iodine-131. What is going on with all the re-criticalities lately?
by Bobby1 6/6/2011 6:08:09 PM

Geez! That's "c u m ulative" dose....
by ms in la 6/6/2011 6:08:51 PM

@elainekirk Ahh thanks. I think I get it.... So the story is we have: 2 dehydrated = very ill. 2 radiated = not so bad.
by ms in la 6/6/2011 6:11:41 PM

You guys all only concentrate on the "officially" reported sick people....you need to dig into the figures, that DO NOT have to be reported......Quit, Fired, leave of absence....this is an umbrealla
by Veenie 6/6/2011 6:12:10 PM

@veenie I so wish we could , I think hospital workers must have had secrecy clauses added to their contracts
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 6:13:40 PM

@Veenie No.... THIS is an umbrella! image53.webshots.com
by ms in la via Image53.webshots 6/6/2011 6:13:48 PM

@ms in la : it is very interesting, in another report it is said that they detected concrete blocks of 900 ms/h. i wonder if this all fits together.
by Edano 6/6/2011 6:14:09 PM

@Pedro Jesus : the reports are from tepco. there is no report by a hospital or a doctor.
by Edano 6/6/2011 6:15:30 PM

@ms inn la @edano cnic publish exposure figurs for workers on an annual basis cnic.jp
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 6:16:34 PM

@all Good Afternoon...Hello!
by smoss 6/6/2011 6:16:38 PM

hi @smoss
by elainekirk 6/6/2011 6:16:51 PM

@all Dust Inhibitor Operations at Fukushima Daiichi: June 1 AtomicPowerReview
by smoss 6/6/2011 6:17:20 PM

@all Opinion...I think as long as they can deny any illness attributable to radiation, they will. They can continue to say ..look, it's not as bad as Chernobyl. They have purposefully not released info they knew at the very beginning so this crisis wouldn't be labelled..another Chernobyl.
by LM 6/6/2011 6:17:31 PM

@elainekirk Hi! Can't stay long...
by smoss 6/6/2011 6:18:23 PM

@LM It's easy to find some other condition to blame radiation illness on. This goes for the workers, and the general populace too.
by Bobby1 6/6/2011 6:19:59 PM

@LM And down the road, we're surely going to be hearing about one .... "another Fukushima"
by ms in la 6/6/2011 6:20:08 PM

@elainekirk : hospital workers and medical personnel, even cleaning staffs at hospitals, have always secrecy clauses all over the world.
by Edano 6/6/2011 6:21:37 PM

@Bobby1 @ms in la You bet!...and if they admit the possibility that their releases are causing illness they open themselves up to complaints from all those poor people -who are living within the vicinity of the plant- who have been violated by a government that refuses to take responsibility for their health because of economic interests..off my soapbox.
by LM 6/6/2011 6:24:46 PM

@edano So right. Somebody is financially supporting both the hospital and doctors and you better believe they are held to the flame...so to speak.
by LM 6/6/2011 6:27:26 PM

@LM Personally, I was always surprised the tobacco industry never tried to blame the increase in lung cancer on the testing in the Cold War. Or maybe they did and I just discounted anything they said about it.
by radioguy 6/6/2011 6:28:02 PM