Workers at Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant see raised cancer risk
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)
Tokyo (dpa) - Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company said on Friday that 1,973 employees who were at the nuclear power plant damaged after a 2011 tsunami are facing a higher risk of thyroid cancer.
Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station have estimated thyroid radiation doses exceeding 100 millisieverts, the widely accepted level for an increase in the risk of cancer, the company said.
They are to undergo annual ultrasonic thyroid examinations, it said.
Health tests were given to 19,592 workers - 3,290 Tokyo Electric employees and 16,302 employees of its affiliated companies. They were involved in the struggle to bring the plant under control after the world's worst nuclear crisis since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
The Fukushima plant suffered meltdowns at three of its six reactors after the earthquake and tsunami two years ago.
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## dpa Contacts - Reporting by: Takehiko Kambayashi - Editing by: Andrew Bolton