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The Japanese government has acknowledged for the first time that a worker at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has died as a result of radiation exposure. The power plant suffered a severe crisis during the devastating Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in 2011.
The man, in his fifties, died of lung cancer after being exposed to radiation, according to the Japanese television channel NHK. He had measured radiation levels at the factory immediately after the merger. We do not know when he died.
On Friday, the Japanese Ministry of Health said the man, who continued working at the plant until 2015, would be eligible for workers' compensation, according to NHK.
The department said it had been exposed to about 195 millisieverts (mSv) of radiation. The International Commission on Radiological Protection recommends avoiding more than 1-20 mSv per year and, according to Reuters, exposure to 100 mSv per year is "the lowest level at which any increase in cancer risk is clearly visible.
Read more:Next nightmare in Japan: health problems related to radiation exposure
The Japanese government has already compensated four other workers who developed leukemia and thyroid cancer after radiation therapy, but this is the first time a death has been recognized. According to the BBC, lung cancer in the worker was diagnosed in 2016.
The collapse of Fukushima, one of the worst nuclear disasters in the world, occurred after the magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami that followed, causing a total power outage. About 18,500 people were killed or reported missing after the earthquake and tsunami, while another 160,000 were displaced.
Read more: Fukushima disaster: In the most dangerous room in the world
There was no death during the nuclear fusion itself, but more than 40 patients evacuated from a nearby hospital died later, reports the BBC. Accidents and deaths also lasted for many years, and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the factory operator, faced several lawsuits.
