Projected radiation doses in thyroid glands have surpassed safe levels in 1,973 workers of the disabled Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, The Asahi Shimbun reports.

The new figure is a more than ten-fold increase from the previous estimate of 178 workers.

A public relations official for Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the nuclear plant, said the company “will provide and pay for annual, ultrasound thyroid gland tests to all workers with thyroid gland doses in excess of 100 millisieverts over their lifetimes.”

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