Japan Nuclear Crisis: Worker At Damaged Power Plant Dies

Source: Huffington Post

TOKYO — A man died on his second day working at Japan's tsunami-wrecked nuclear power plant Saturday, and the plant operator said harmful levels of radiation were not detected in his body.

The contract worker in his 60s was the first person to die at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan since the March 11 quake and tsunami damaged the facility, causing a string of fires, explosions and radiation leaks in the world's second-worst nuclear accident.

The worker was carrying equipment when he collapsed and died later in hospital, said Naoyuki Matsumoto, spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co. The company does not know the cause of his death, Matsumoto said.

The man had been wearing a radiation protection suit, mask and gloves while working at the plant's waste disposal building, which stores radioactive-contaminated water that has leaked from the tsunami-crippled reactors.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/14/japan-nuclear-crisis-worker-at-plant-dies_n_861943.html

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It'd be useful to know the worker's age and general health, but nowhere in the article is either one mentioned.

you can bet your bottom dollar that TEPCO will say it wasn't from exposure to high levels of radiation.

As much as the anti-nukers would want him to be glowing in the dark.

On either side.

who is concerned about the situation at Fukushima is an "anti-nuker".

It couldn't possibly be that the situation really IS bad - no, it's all because of "anti-nuker" propaganda. "Anti-nukers" are just picking on poor Fukushima, and they really should just move along because there is NOTHING to see there.

around here, everyone who tried to stem the hysteria was branded a pro-nuker.

You couldn't possibly be using such a loaded word! Conspiracy theorist isn't a loaded term either.

Everyone watching this situation is "hysterical", particularly when they use scientific evidence to discuss it.

"Hysteria".

Yeah, that's the ticket.

Let's see-- since this disaster, the following "information" has been "reported" in these discussion forums:

Mass exodus from Tokyo
Tokyo is being evacuated
Americans are being forcibly repatriated from Tokyo
The US Embassy is being abandoned
Half of Japan is uninhabitable
The nuclear reactors will contaminate Tokyo's groundwater
Japanese will no longer be able to enjoy cherry blossom parties because of the radiation
Japan will export contaminated cars and Kobe beef
Total nuclear meltdown confirmed by Frenchman who says he's a "goner" by living in Tokyo
All information coming from Japan is lies put out by TEPCO

As someone who is actually living between Tokyo and the reactors and spends considerable time in Tokyo each week, I would say that, yes, the above "pronouncements" have sounded like hysteria to me.

Does that mean we should stop discussing everything because someone might do so?

Those who question the quality of information disseminated by TEPCO have EVERY right to do so, because they haven't been forthcoming. That doesn't equal "hysteria", that is rational discussion. People having rational discussions have been ridiculed and deemed conspiracy theorists, despite the fact that much of the speculation about the state of the containment coming true.

Not everyone is rational - I do agree with you on that point - but many people are rational. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I'm not anti-nuke, I'm anti-bs. When governments and corporations work hand in hand to deceive the public, they need to be called on it.

I see far too many posts here that just seem like the posters want the situation here in Japan to be worse than it actually is.

Would you like to discuss radiation data put out by various Japanese organizations?

but is it not true that exposure of radiation today can kill years later. If thats the case how can you say that the situation there is better than what some here fear. Their fears being mostly based on the lack of consistent and what seems like so many times to be dis-honest information from the company and in some cases the government agency over seeing them.
Don't get me wrong I'm happy you're there giving us some first hand knowledge but could it be also you have a bias in what you believe like most people do and that bias influences you and what you write so we have to read this with knowing that.

No one here pays much attention to TEPCO's figures, and there is not so much confidence in the national government's data. However, there are literally hundreds of public and private research institutes here, as well as a major technology-oriented university with affiliated hospital. Many of these organizations have been taking radiation measurements for years. Everyone is exposed to radiation every day, it doesn't matter where they are. So what I have been trying to do is get a consensus from these organizations, and even from scientists and university people I know personally, about what constitutes a "safe" level of radiation. Around here, natural background radiation is 0.07-0.09 microsieverts/hour, and we are close to that now. Natural background radiation is lower in Tokyo, but higher in many places around the world, including many places in the US. People here aren't panicking, and they will surely be affected by this problem to a greater degree than just about anyone outside of eastern Japan.

You might be interested in reading this from the NRC:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/bio-effects-radiation.html

Prime Minister Kan’s current approval rating is 28% pro, 55% con. Kan’s party fares even worse: main opposition party (LDP) has 22% support, versus 17.6% for Kan’s ruling party.

Garbage generated from the tsunami in Miyagi is equal to 23 years’ worth for the prefecture. 25 acres of farmland in Miyagi have been appropriated to handle some of the mountain of garbage.

Small- and medium-business owners in Fukushima are demanding that TEPCO make provisional compensation payments. TEPCO held meeting in Iwaki, Fukushima today-- attendees voiced dissatisfaction with action TEPCO has taken so far, some demanded that the reactors be sealed off as soon as possible.

Radiation readings outside of Fukushima are mostly normal. By far the highest reading outside of Fukushima prefecture was registered at Kita Ibaraki City, at 0.2 microsieverts per hour. Thirty miles south of there, at Mito, the radiation level was half of that. All readings were considered safe.

A partial meltdown has been confirmed at the No. 1 unit.

Some radioacative water from the reactors will be transferred to another location. Other water will be stored in underground containers on site. Some water has been released into the ocean. Ways of recycling the water are being considered.

Also, the president of TEPCO made an appeal to the national Diet (Parliament) for financial support to deal with the its Daiichi-related problems.

as reported on NHK (May 16):

Do you favor increasing the number of nuclear power plants? 3%
Do you favor maintaining the current number of nuclear power plants? 32%
Do you favor reducing the number of nuclear power plants? 47%
Do you favor total abandonment of nuclear power? 12%

...but you don't have to be an "anti-nuker" to see the constant stream of lies and cover ups by TEPCO.

It's fucking laughable by now.

The BP spill was a bastion of transparency--compared to the blatant lies and lack of information that TEPCO has dished out.

But there are many that don't want it discussed at all. It's neither hysteria nor paranoia to examine the evidence and see that TEPCO has actively worked to deceive the public.

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If it really is so bad in there that the workers are dropping dead in their tracks,
then it has really gotten to the point where nothing can be done to stop it, and
it will be spewing radiation for years, killing millions of people.

It could be that bad, but we still hope it isn't that bad.

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When you see how many people insist on having this option made available to them, well, this looks like an opportunity to go out heroically. Albeit, I can't imagine it won't be anything but excruciating.

I hope and pray that others who have worked there won't either but I am not optimistic. And as we know, if they get cancer from the exposure it might take years to develop.

Lots of maybe going on there that we'll never know about.

TEPCO has proved to be a bunch of liars, obfuscaters and cover-up artists.

Why in the world would anyone assume that we have the facts?

We simply don't know the truth.

For all we know, many have died.

Where are the men who worked at Fukushima in the radioactive water--who had burns on their bodies? They were
escorted out of Fukushima with coverings on their heads.

Are those people alive?

We have no idea--because TEPCO is not interested in truth. They're interested in covering up this colossal
failure, in order to preserve pride.

In any case we know that about thirty thousand have died from this catastrophe.

This is more likely a heart attack or something. Radiation usually does not kill so quickly.
Most who die from working there will die at home or in the hospital. They are sub-contractor
employees, so TEPCO might not even be keeping track of them.

to hear the GOPers tell it.

...in his 60'ies and exposed to 0,17 mSv radiation 40 minutes into his shift, in Swedish media.

"The worker in his 60s complained of ill health while working at a waste processing facility. He worked for a subcontracting firm of Tokyo Electric Power Company.

The man was taken to a medical office in the plant, where he was found to have lost consciousness. He was then taken by ambulance to a hospital in Iwaki City and confirmed dead shortly after 9:30 AM. The cause of his death is unknown.

Tokyo Electric says the worker had been transporting equipment since Friday. He was scheduled to work for 3 hours from 6:00 AM on Saturday.

The company says the worker had put on a full protective suit and was not exposed to radioactive substances."
Full protective suit is not an easy thing to wear!


http://mdn.mainichi.jp/features/news/20110514p2a00m0na012000c.html
Fukushima nuke plant worker tells of heat exhaustion, slipping safety standards
Safety rules and procedures at the stricken Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant are being gradually relaxed, spreading anxiety and confusion amongst workers, according to a worker at the plant.

Furthermore, according to the worker, the lax safety attitude together with the extreme working environment, human error and workers being made to do jobs outside of their fields are creating a dangerous environment.

The worker, a veteran at a subcontractor company, says that last month he headed to the plant to help install a hose for removing radioactively contaminated water from a turbine building. After receiving his protective suit and full-face mask at the J Village sports center located around 20 kilometers south of the plant, he was driven by a company vehicle to the base of operations on the plant grounds. There he was given a radiation-measuring device, and he headed in to begin the work.

He says now that the weather has grown warmer, wearing the full set of protective equipment, mask and all, is "like wearing a sauna suit." After a while, sweat a few centimeters deep collects in the mask, and "many people have collapsed from heat exhaustion."

My experience in MOPP Level IV Chem suit gloves & mask is very tiresome and Asbestos training too! So for the people that say not nuke related yes and no! The protective measures to work in a contaminated area will kill an untrained or out of shape person.

what they think now.

Working in that environment is hard work try breathing through a particulate mask and and in hot humid conditions it is very tiring quickly!

一方、男性が搬送された病院の救命救急センターの医師は取材に「死因は心筋梗塞の可能性が高く、放射線の影響は考えにくい」と説明した。
However, according to a doctor at the emergency treatment center of the hospital where the man was transported, "There is a very high possibility that the cause of death was cardiac infarction; it's difficult to think that (death) was from the effect of radiation".

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/economy/topics/economy-14702-t1.htm

He was in his 60's, so he could be hired for dangerous work, as his useful life was considered finished. By the lights of capitalist economic theory this was very efficient and therefore commendable - a case of using a factor of production in "run to failure" mode.

Typically, subcontractors will hire older people because of their experience. It's very likely that this unidentified man had just been laid off from an office job after he turned 60, and wanted to continue working, which is quite common here in Japan. Also, this kind of work pays substantially more than regular part-time jobs for over-60 workers. And perhaps he felt that with this kind of job could be helping his country.

It was a comment about capitalist ethics. Nobody can know this man's precise motives for taking on a dangerous assignment in his mid 60's, though money and social status were bound to play the primary roles.

As a product of his society he may have even thought it worthwhile - we all tend to go along with the roles our society casts us in, even the dangerous, sacrificial ones. Sometimes we are even persuaded to consider them especially honorable when they result in death. However, note that the rich and powerful rarely go this route when it comes to themselves or their families.

Your speculation that he was laid off from an office job, then was relegated to a dangerous industrial job in his final years of working life is exactly what I meant by "run to failure". As a factor of production he was used until his machinery failed. He was like the horse in Animal Farm.

There are plenty of jobs available for over-60 workers here in Japan that are not dangerous. But the pay is usually pretty low compared to what was being earned before. Some temporary job agencies have been offering the equivalent of $360/day for 3 hours of work at the site. The man was not working in a particularly hazardous environment (0.17 microsieverts/hour) and he collapsed while helping a fellow worker to transport a power saw. However, to me the most disturbing revelation here is that apparently there was not a physician on duty at the site.