When a deadly earthquake hit Japan in 2011, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant suffered a critical meltdown. In the years since, more than 44,000 workers helped to safely take it offline, exposing themselves to the potential hazard of radiation. Now, more than four years later, doctors have diagnosed the first cancer in one of those workers believed to be directly linked to radiation.
Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, reports the Washington Post, has announced that an unnamed recovery worker has been diagnosed with Leukaemia. They also confirmed that the cancer was related to the work the male worker carried out at the plant, and that he has officially filed a compensation claim.
The Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun has reported more details on the case; according to the paper, the man is 41 years old and worked near the No 3 and No 4 reactors at the plant between 2012 and 2013. Last year, he was diagnosed with Acute Myelogenous Leukaemia, a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.
TEPCO, the Tokyo electric power company, has outlined in much detail all the attempts it made to shield workers from as much radiation as possible during the clean up, and provides reports to the Japanese Ministry of Health every month about how much exposure its workers on the site endure. The radiation dose limit in Fukushima stands at 1.71 mSv per month, with the average worker in August reporting a dose of .31 mSv.
According to Asahi Shimbun, the patient diagnoses with cancer was exposed to as much as 16 mSv. The paper also claims that the worker was a contractor, rather than an employee, and that contractors have been exposed to higher doses of radiation than employees.
