Japan Nuclear Plant Worker Dies

Japan nuclear plant worker dies‎

2011-05-14 22:00:41 GMT+7 (ICT)

TOKYO (BNO NEWS) -- A worker at Japan's tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on Saturday fell unconscious at work and later died, NHK Television reported.



The man, who worked for a subcontracting firm of Tokyo Electric Power Company, 
complained of ill health while working at a waste processing facility. The company says the worker, who was in his 60s, was not exposed to radioactive substances.



Tokyo Electric said the worker likely died from exhaustion since he had been transporting equipment since Friday. The cause of his death is unknown.

The man was taken to a hospital in Iwaki City, where he was declared dead. This is the first time that a worker at the Daiichi plant dies after the March 11th disaster.

Meanwhile, the last operating reactor at the Hamaoka nuclear power plant in central Japan was shut down on Saturday.

Japan's Chubu Electric Co. agreed to shut down the plant on Monday, two days after Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan requested to have all operations at the plant's reactors suspended due to Japan's science ministry informing that an 8.0-magnitude earthquake is forecast to hit the Tokai region with an 87 percent probability in the coming 30 years, which could affect the nuclear plant

Thirty-five reactors in Japan, or two-thirds of the country's commercial nuclear reactors, will be shut down. Some stopped operating after the March 11th disaster while others have been suspended after routine inspections.

At least 14,294 people were killed, while some 13,000 people remain missing due to devastating earthquake and tsunami. Japanese officials have called it the worst crisis since the end of World War II.

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