More than 53,000 workers at Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings’ meltdown-stricken Fukushima No. 1 power plant have received radiation doses exceeding a key level of 5 millisieverts per year.

The 5-millisievert level is a threshold for determining whether nuclear plant workers suffering from leukemia are eligible for compensation benefits for work-related injuries and illnesses under public insurance.

The figure, which covered the 15 years to the end of March this year, is based on a Jiji Press analysis of data in Tepco’s annual reports on radiation management submitted to the Nuclear Regulation Authority after the March 2011 triple meltdown at the plant in Fukushima Prefecture.