Worker Dies at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
A worker who had been helping with the clean-up of Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has died after suddenly falling ill and collapsing:
The cause of the death was unknown. The man, in his 60s, was employed by one of Tokyo Electric’s contractors and started working at the plant on Friday. He was exposed to 0.17 millisieverts of radiation on Saturday, Tokyo Electric said.
The Japanese government’s maximum level of exposure for male workers at the plant is 250 millisieverts for the duration of the effort to bring it under control.
In the numbers are correct, the death was not caused by radiation. The man was exposed to less radiation than one would normally get from a stomach x-ray. To cause sudden illness and death, an exposure of several thousand millisierverts of radiation would be necessary.
The man, who was in his 60′s, was an employee of a contracting firm. He had been wearing a protective suit, gloves, and mask. It had only been his second day working at the plant.
It is the third death that has taken place at the nuclear plant. The other two deaths were caused by the earthquake and tsunami. So far, there has been no confirmed case of any workers dying from radiation poisoning.
Update: Jiji press is now reporting that doctors at a hospital in Iwaki believe that the man likely died of a heart attack.
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