• Masaharu Tsubokura, Masahiko Nihei, Katsumi Sato, Shin Masaki, Yu Sakuma, Shigeaki Kato, Amina Sugimoto, Shuhei Nomura, Tomoko Matsumura, Makoto Miyazaki, Ryugo Hayano, Kenji Shibuya, Masahiro Kami, and Taro Sasaki.
• Division of Social Communication System for Advanced Clinical Research, Institute of Medical Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo. tsubokura-tky@umin.ac.jp
• Health Phys. 2013 Oct 1;105(4):379-81.

AbstractDecontamination workers may face a high risk of exposure to internal irradiation through inhalation during decontamination activities; there is, however, little previous research on the levels of internal contamination during decontamination procedures. The authors reviewed the medical records, including whole body counter measurements, of decontamination workers in villages near the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to assess their levels of internal radiation exposure. In total, 83 decontamination workers were enrolled in this study. They were regularly engaged in decontamination activities in highly contaminated areas where surface 137Cs deposition density was over 100 kBq m-2. The present study showed low levels of internal exposure among the decontamination workers near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. The cesium burdens of all the decontamination workers were below detection limits. They had reported no acute health problems. The resuspension of radioactive materials may cause minimal internal contamination during decontamination activities.

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