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Convenience store chain Lawson’s newest branch opened Tuesday on the premises of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where decommissioning work following the March 11, 2011 tsunami-triggered disaster, is still under way.
The 60-square-meter store is located on the second floor of a spacious rest house built last June for employees working at the plant, Sankei Shimbun reported. Situated near the plant's front gate, the convenience store is open Monday to Saturday from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m., selling groceries and daily supplies typically found at other convenience stores.
The Daiichi branch, however, is not selling alcohol, canned or bottled drinks and food that requires to be cooked at the store, such as fried foods or oden.
The move comes after the plant’s operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) approached several major convenience store operators for cooperation to open a store on the plant's premises in a bid to improve working conditions for employees on the site. Employees had complained that the nearest convenience store was 10 kilometers away.
Lawson agreed to the proposal, taking into consideration that radiation doses in many parts of the plant, with the exception of the nuclear reactor buildings and its surroundings, are said to have been decreasing in comparison to the early stages of the disaster. In the store, the radiation level is less than 0.1 microsievert per hour, according to TEPCO.
© Japan Today
17 Comments
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In_japan
The last line is very powerful
Disillusioned
So, who is staffing this store? Local high school kids working for ¥800 per hour with a bonus of a daily dose of radiation?
Yubaru
am sure that they will get a "glowing" recommendation when they put this on their job resume!
John-San
Great to see that they are not selling store prepared foods. If staff do not sell what is on sale during their shift they have to pay for the item not sold ( because the owner deem that they prepare to much). So when you see that there is no cook food. You know that there a change of shift. Go back in a hour or so and there cooked food for sale.
sf2k
Ambient radiation is ~0.17 millisieverts so is this on top of that. Radiation can and does bio-accumulate in fish and other creatures that live in the ocean, just like mercury. Working in a building full of radioactive food will no doubt depend on the department they work on. I pity the warehouse staff, the fish counter and cashiers.
Move away. It's sickening that children are allowed to still live there. Revitalize other parts of Japan, it's not worth the cancers that will result.
miyakojimadan
Where did you get this information? Maybe true but sounds a bit strange.
nandakandamanda
No red hot chicken then? Just sandwiches, obento and onigiri, perhaps.
WA4TKG
Don't worry if you enter the store and the power is out, everything GLOWS in the DARK.
Moderator
Readers, please refrain from making puns.
John-San
miyakojimadan: My Partner worked for 7/11 back in 2006 in Sapporo while at uni. She told me this while we were watching a documentary recently about 7/11 owners in Australia paying their staff below minimum wage. They would target oversea students with working visa. These visa are only for student to work a minimum wage job and a maximum of 20 hours. The owners would talk the student into doing more then 20 hour .After a few weeks of this the owner start demanding more hours from the student but only pay the student for 20 hours. He tell the student that he will report him for working more then 20 hours if they complain. Most students just quit but some don,t . but it never get reported because of the fear of the Australia strict visa,s policies being enforced.
Mike O'Brien
No, radiation is energy. It does not accumulate (bio- or otherwise) at all.
There are many parts of the world with natural levels much greater than in the living areas near Fukushima. Should Denver and much of the Rocky Mountains be evacuated too?
ShinCebu
I wonder who wants to work in this branch and how much is the salary per hour...hmmm....
Utrack
Thorium Radiation is not safe. Radon gas in basements causes illnesses resulting in death too. Plutonium, Cesium, Uranium etc. is found in Fukushima and beyond in Japan but near ground zero even more so This must be for publicity and it smacks of government glossing over the seriousness of the situation at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant that Lawson would open a store. They do not care about the people's health, safety or well-being.
Nessie
Restoration complete!
albaleo
Is that per month or per year? And from what sources? According to Wikipedia, average worldwide human exposure to radiation from all sources is 3.01 millisieverts per year (2.4 from natural sources). In Japan, the figure is 3.83 (1.5 natural). In the USA it is 6.24 (3.1 natural). ) 0.1 microsieverts per hour comes to 0.88 millisieverts per year.
Thunderbird
not true (at least in Kanazawa). I have 2 friends who keep bragging on facebook about the delicious snacks they bring home every week.