Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 9.11
Measured radioactivity and calculated dose levels from radioactive exposure within the
first year after the accident of March 11, 2011 [
16
-
19
,
21
]
9.3.3 Damage to Health Caused by Ionizing Radiation
Three months after the accident, the IAEA in Vienna found that the population had
not suffered any measurable damage to health as a result of ionizing radiation [
16
].
The lifetime baseline risk (probability of having a specific cancer over the
lifetime of 89 years of a person) was reported by the World Health Organization
(WHO) [
19
] in a detailed analysis for children and adults.
Four members of the operating crew were killed by the earthquake and the
following tsunami wave. Some 20 staff members were injured by the hydrogen
explosions. There were in total 23,172 emergency and mitigation workers working
at the Fukushima Daiichi reactor plants. According to a report of the World Health
Organization (WHO) [
19
] most of them received
10 mSv total effective radiation
dose. 75 workers received up to
<
200 mSv and 12 workers received up to 700 mSv
total effective radiation dose (two of them had sustained
β
-radiation exposures of
the legs from contaminated water). The level laid down by the Japanese govern-
ment was a maximum radiation exposure of rescue workers of 250 mSv [
16
-
19
,
21
]
(see also Sect.
4.4.3
).
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