[ad_1]
On Wednesday, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Affairs admitted that a man working at the Fukushima nuclear power plant had died of lung cancer linked to radiation exposure. Three of the six reactors at the plant melted in March 2011, when a tsunami hit the Fukushima region.
The deceased, who was in his fifties, "was responsible for measuring radiation at the Fukushima No.1 plant shortly after its collapse," the BBC reported. Japanese government officials reportedly stated that the employee had worked on the site "at least twice after being damaged" and had worn the appropriate protective equipment. The death of man is the first to be officially linked to radiation exposure during the disaster.
"After hearing the opinions of a panel of radiologists and other experts, the ministry decided that the man's family should receive compensation," the BBC wrote.
The man had been working in nuclear power plants since the 1980s. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2016.
The ministry linked four diseases to radiation exposure resulting from the Fukushima disaster. Eighteen thousand people died in the tsunami that caused the disaster, and more than 160,000 people were displaced as a result of collapsing reactors, according to Reuters.
Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) owns the Fukushima power plant and faces numerous claims for compensation, including those of the families of 40 people who died while being evacuated from a hospital located in near the nuclear power station. In 2014, TEPCO agreed to compensate the family of a woman who has committed suicide after being evacuated from her home.
The radioactive releases as a result of Fukushima were considerably lower than those that followed one of the most notable nuclear disasters, Chernobyl. Yet the disaster was huge. According to a 2016 estimate, cleaning and compensation costs for citizens affected by the disaster could reach $ 200 billion.
