TEPCO says the worker's heart stopped, but they do know it's not because of radiation exposure he got by working at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant for a year, at 25 millisieverts.
Remember, unless it's an acute radiation sickness, it's not because of radiation.
Also remember how the workers (both of TEPCO and of affiliate companies) massage the radiation exposure levels by various methods, whether they do it voluntarily or are told to do so, while TEPCO on a corporate level maintains plausible deniability by pretending not to notice.
From articles in Mainichi Shinbun (here, here, and here):
(8/22/2012)
男性は２２日午前９時過ぎから、全面マスクと防護服を着用し、作業員５人と汚染水貯蔵タンクの増設に従事した。同５０分ごろ、熱中症対策で休憩室で休んでいたが、まもなく体調不良を訴えた。午前１０時３５分ごろ、別の作業員が意識不明の状態で倒れているのを発見した。
The man started working with 5 others to install storage tanks for contaminated water from 9AM on August 22, in full face mask and protective clothes. At about 9:50AM he was resting in the rest area as a precaution against heatstroke, but he complained of feeling ill. At about 10:35AM, another worker found him lying on the floor unconscious.
男性は昨年８月から第１原発で勤務し、２２日は１週間の休暇明けだったという。被ばく線量は同日で０．０３ミリシーベルト、累積で２５．２４ミリシーベルト（暫定値）
He started working at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant in August last year. August 22 was his first day back from the 1-week vacation. His radiation exposure on August 22 was 0.03 millisievert, and cumulative radiation exposure was 25.24 millisieverts (provisional).
(8/23/2012)
東京電力は２２日、福島第１原発で作業していた男性が心肺停止となり、福島県いわき市の病院に救急搬送されたと発表した。県警によると、男性は５７歳で同日午後に死亡した。東電は「倒れた原因は不明だが、被ばく線量から放射線の影響ではない」としている。
TEPCO announced on August 22 that a man working at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant suffered a cardiopulmonary arrest and was taken to a hospital in Iwaki City by ambulance. According to the Fukushima prefectural police, the 57-year-old man died in the afternoon on August 22. TEPCO says, "We do not know how [or why] he collapsed, but it is not from radiation, judging from his radiation exposure level."
(8/23/2012)
東京電力福島第１原発で収束作業に当たった男性作業員（５７）が２２日の作業直後に死亡した問題で、東電は２３日、死因は急性心筋梗塞（こうそく）だったと発表した。
TEPCO announced on August 23 that the male worker (age 57) who died after the work at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant had an acute myocardial infarction.
(And no one dies inside the plant compound...)
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8 comments:
The families of workers who die during the Fukushima clean up should have their loved ones ashes independently tested for radiation because the official exposure numbers are very suspect.
Good idea, anon at 12:46.
I would like to hear what caused the heart attack. Clogged arteries, a blood clot, what? Heart attacks happen for a reason. So no word what caused the heart attack, only what did NOT cause it? Suspect until further notice.
*mscharisma*
Radiation-induced cardiopulmonary arrest is a common side-effect of quite some medicines.
However, this only comes to light where radiation and medication normally occur in parallel, i.e. at medicines for cancer therapy.
For example, a quote from Erbitux prescription information from the FDA:
"WARNING: [...] CARDIOPULMONARY ARREST
Cardiopulmonary arrest and/or sudden death occurred in 2% of patients receiving Erbitux in combination with radiation therapy"
( source: www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/DrugSafety/DrugSafetyNewsletter/UCM148033.pdf )
So bad that the Japanese authorities seem to be not interested in doing any forensic research why there are so many fatal heart problems at Fuku workers.
Maybe it's just a common pharmaceutic that has still unknown side effects when used while getting irradiated?
But, probably this is all just psychological:
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Studies_examine_health_consequences_of_meltdown_damage_to_Fukushima_nuclear_power_plants_in_Japan_999.html
@ Atomfritz at 2:04:
Am assuming you were being sarcastic about the psychological cause. But just in case not: stress in and of itself does not, to my knowledge, cause a heart attack (although it can be a contributing factor).
Am agreeing with you entirely that much more careful attention should be paid by authorities to any death. If not for interest of self-preservation, than at least for the sake of science. Don't we all want have more data to know exactly how bad - or not, according to the authorities - radiation exposure is?
It is the apparent lack of interest that raises my red flags.
*mscharisma*
This reminds me of something that happened more than a year ago. On March 11 2011, actually. There was a very huge earthquake offshore, close to Sendai. Then a giant tsunami erased around 5km within land all the way from Aomori, Iwate and down to Ibaraki.
I put on the TV because the shaking was quite huge even in Tokyo, and all we got to see was a Chiba refinery on fire, and a random janitor in sports suit who... wait a minute ?! Oh, that's the PM, that's Kan ! (<-- this is not a story, I did actually think it was a janitor. At that time PMs were changing faster than the traffic lights, too). So he comes and says there are no trouble at the NPPs, nobody even asked at that time...
Here's the conclusion of this story : when people tell, even though nobody asked, it is fishy. In this new situation, people want to know what is the cause for death, but all you get told is what's not the cause. Fishy fishy something's smelly.
JAnonymous, LOL. Kan as a janitor.
Speaking of "when people tell, even though nobody asked, it is fishy" - that's exactly what Kan's administration did on March 20 (could have been 21 or 22, exact date escapes me) last year, posting on the PM Office's website a notice telling citizens not to worry if they happen to get wet in the rain.
For any of you would be journalists out there:
There is a story here, regardless of whether this man died as a direct result of radiation exposure or not. Here was a man who spent the last year of his abbreviated life working to cleanup after TEPCO at Fukushima. What was the life story that led this man to this occupation? To this job at this time? Was he driven to do a job he hated by desperation or debts to the wrong people? Was he happily employed there, convinced that the job hazards were insignificant for the premium pay he was getting? Was he doing this cleanup job to attone for something he did to promote nuclear power earlier in his life? There's a human story here that - given the way and place that he spent his last day on earth - deserves to be told.
If you see something in Japanese, please post the link here. It would be worth reading the google translation anyway.
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