Tokyo Electric Probed over Woman Overexposure to Radiation

Tokyo, May 10 (Jiji Press)--Japan's labor ministry is investigating Tokyo Electric Power Co. <9501> over a female worker's exposure to radiation above the legal limit at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant crippled by the March 11 quake and tsunami, informed sources said Tuesday.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare suspects that the company failed to comply with the industrial safety and health law that obliges nuclear plant operators to evacuate workers if the radiation dose can top 15 millisieverts in a short period.
Workers to deal with a nuclear accident are allowed to stay on an exceptional basis. However, keeping a woman at a troubled nuclear plant requires a doctor's certificate that she is unlikely to be pregnant anytime soon. Without the certificate, a female worker's radiation exposure is required to be 5 millisieverts or less for a three-month period.
A violation would result in a six-month prison sentence or fines of up to 500,000 yen.
A total of 19 female workers including the woman worked at the Fukushima plant in northeastern Japan before they evacuated on March 23. Her radiation exposure reached 17.55 millisieverts.
A Tokyo Electric Power spokesman said that it was difficult for the company to manage workers as usual because it focused on restoring the plant.