Nuclear plant workers in Japan have suffered the world's highest collective radiation exposure for four consecutive years, prompting the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency to consider improvements, it was learned Friday.
Sources said the agency is studying ways to bolster maintenance procedures, including an analysis of service procedures used at reactors in other countries.
It hopes to come up with improvements by 2005, in time for the next meeting of the Convention on Nuclear Safety. Japan's situation was criticized in April 2002, when the convention held its last meeting.
Japan's average collective radiation count for workers per light-water reactor was 1.55 man-sieverts in fiscal 2002, said the Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization.
The count is 1.31 man-Sv in the U.S., one man-Sv in Germany and 0.97 man-Sv in France. The Czech Republic recorded the lowest, at 0.2 man-Sv. The man-Sv unit represents the collective annual exposure of all workers needed to maintain each reactor.
An organization official said a large number of workers are involved in servicing nuclear plants in Japan, and so the exposure per person is low.