TEPCO to improve working conditions at Fukushima

Tepco  is expected to improve the working environment of workers trying to bring the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant under control. This was industry minister Banri Kaieda point of view.

Kaieda, who serves as a deputy head of the nuclear disaster task force jointly set up by the government and plant operator Tokyo Electric, said around 500 to 600 people were at one point lodging in a building on the plant's premises and that was ''not a situation in which minimum sleep and food could be ensured.''

An official of the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency reported that workers were only eating two meals per day, such as crackers and dried rice, and sleeping in conference rooms and hallways in the building.

Kaieda said that he had also heard that not all of the workers had been equipped with lead sheeting to shield themselves from the possibly radiation-contaminated floors while sleeping, and some were leaning against walls as they were unable to lie down on floors.

''The workers, as well as the Self-Defense Forces and firefighters, are working under extremely harsh conditions...so food and sleep must be improved first,'' the minister of economy, trade and industry said.

Amid increasing fears of workers being exposed to high levels of radiation at the plant, hospitals in Tokyo called on the workers to provide samples of their blood-forming hematopoietic stem cells ahead of possible massive exposure.