A Japanese man in his 50s, who previously worked at the crippled Fukushima power plant, has recently died of a lung cancer. Japan’s Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry then acknowledged that his death was in fact triggered by a radiation poisoning and recognized his family as eligible for compensation in the first such case since the disaster.
According to the ministry, the diseased worked mainly at the Fukushima plant, which was hit by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011 as well as at some other nuclear power station for more than 28 years until 2015. Notably, he was in charge of measuring radiation levels at the plant and its premises immediately after the incident, the Japanese media report.
It is said he was exposed to a total radiation dose of some 195 millisieverts – a dose that is about 4 times higher than the one that leads to a serious risk of developing cancer.
So far, the ministry also admitted that a total of four Fukushima plant workers developed various types of cancer, including leukemia and thyroid cancer, triggered by radiation poisoning. However, this was the first case involving death.