Japan's nuclear power workers are "canaries in the coal mine" for residents downwind of Fukushima Daiichi catastrophe

A photograph shows a whole-body counter. (Photo courtesy of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency)The Mainichi Daily News of Japan has reported that significant contamination with internal radiation emitters -- more dangerous to human health than external emitters -- has been detected in Japan's nuclear power plant workers, especially those who have recently been in Fukushima Prefecture. Of the 4,956 nuclear workers across Japan confirmed by whole-body counters to have internal radioactive contamination, 4,766 of them had been in Fukushima Prefecture after the Daiichi nuclear catastrophe began to unfold. Some of these nuclear workers had not even been deployed to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, but merely resided near enough downwind and downstream that they had "apparently inhaled radioactive substances scattered by hydrogen explosions at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant." This alarming revelation has prompted impacted local governments to now consider subjecting infants and those who work outdoors to similar testing.