6 foreign trainees worked at Fukushima N-Plant

May 1, 2018

Tokyo- Six technical trainees from abroad worked within the compound of Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings Inc.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, TEPCO officials said Tuesday.

This is against TEPCO's decision, made in February last year after consultations with related government agencies, not to let such trainees work at the nuclear plant in the northeastern prefecture of Fukushima, the site of the March 2011 meltdowns.

According to the officials, the six, hired by a primary subcontractor, worked from October-December last year to late last month at a facility to burn wood and debris collected at the plant.

As the facility sits outside the radiation controlled area, radiation exposure levels of workers there are not measured and their residential statuses are not checked. TEPCO does not know how much radiation the six trainees were exposed to.

TEPCO will check with all original contractors to see whether there are any foreign technical trainees working at the plant, against the purpose of Japan's technical intern training program that gives people from abroad opportunities to acquire skills for use in their home countries. Jiji Press