Fukushima disaster causing cancer, Japanese government admits finally

This video says about itself:

First case of cancer linked to Fukushima cleanup work diagnosed

20 October 2015

When the Fukushima Daichi nuclear plant suffered a catastrophic meltdown, thousands of workers were called in to take the reactor offline.

Now, four years later, Japan has confirmed the first case of cancer stemming from that dangerous work.

The country’s health ministry said Monday that a former Fukushima worker has been diagnosed with leukemia.

The unnamed man in his 30s worked at the plant from October 2012 to November 2013.

“This is a massive blow to the IAEA, which stated in September of this year that no discernible health effects due to the exposure to radiation released by the accident are to be expected,” Greenpeace said in a statement.

IAEA is the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The leukemia was diagnosed after the worker filed a work hazard compensation claim, the ministry said.

About 45,000 workers have been involved in cleanup work at the Fukushima plant since August 2011. The earthquake that caused the disaster at the facility took place five months earlier, in March 2011.

Ten other former Fukushima workers have filed similar cases. Seven were dropped; three are pending, the ministry said.

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

Japan admits Fukushima has caused cancer

Today, 13:31

Japan has for the first time admitted that a person may become ill due to the released radiation at Fukushima. An employee of the nuclear power plant has been diagnosed with leukemia.

After the disaster, the government said that the health effects of radiation would be minimal. The employees worked in shifts so that they would supposedly not be exposed for too long to the radiation.

Limit

The man in his thirties spent more than a year in the cleanup efforts after the disaster in 2011. More than 44,000 workers were employed after the disaster to [supposedly] safely store millions of liters of radioactive cooling water.

The employee was exposed, according to the Health Ministry to no more radiation than the annual limit for workers in the nuclear industry. Yet the ministry cannot exclude that the cancer is directly related to the released radiation.

Damages

Now that it appears that the disaster, contrary to what the government said earlier, may have caused a case of cancer, the amounts of compensation may increase as well. Employees who worked shortly after the disaster in the area were entitled to compensation if they would ever get leukemia by radiation.