Nuclear death
Hisashi Ouchi, a worker fatally poisoned in Japan’s worst nuclear incident ever on 30 September (see ALU 32), died in December. His death exposes corporate lies about the safety of the nuclear industry.

Hisashi Ouchi was one of three inexperienced workers injured at Tokaimura’s nuclear complex, JCO, a private daughter company of Sumitomo Metal Mining. On company instructions they were illegally mixing plutonium in buckets!
Professor of physics at Keio University in Tokyo, Yuko Fujita said that even without mishaps like this, workers are routinely exposed to radiation in Japan’s nuclear installations.

Hisashi Ouchi typifies a growing number of temporary labourers in Japan. Many are homeless following Japan’s catastrophic recession and are easily tempted by well-paid temporary nuclear-related jobs.

These workers receive only token safety training.

The average radiation dose for a regular worker at a nuclear factory is far less than the legal limit. However, temporary workers could be receiving much higher doses of radiation as there is no monitor of their movements from one nuclear site to another. Fujita insists that without legal protection, “The nuclear industry is sustained by workers exposed to deadly radiation.”