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Fukushima, Nukes and AML (a Leukemia) in Less Than 5 years

Writer's picture: Kirk HartleyKirk Hartley

An October 2o, 2015  story in Carrier Management reports a payment to a nuke worker who developed AML at a young age. Overall, he is reported to be the 13th nuclear plant worker paid compensation after developing AML. Key parts of the story state the following:

“Japan’s health ministry confirmed for the first time that leukemia found in a worker at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi power plant is a result of the March 2011 atomic disaster.

The worker was in his 30s while employed at the Fukushima facility north of Tokyo between October 2012 and December 2013, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

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The worker received 15.7 millisieverts (mSv) of radiation during his time at the Fukushima facility, while workers compensation insurance is awarded after receiving 5 mSv in a year, according to the ministry. So far, 13 workers at nuclear power facilities have received compensation for cancer due to radiation exposure. There is still debate, however, as to whether low doses of radiation—below a threshold of 100 mSv—have a direct link to leukemia.

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High-dose radiation exposure increases the risk of developing acute myeloid leukemia, according to the American Cancer Society. Japanese atomic bomb survivors had a greatly increased risk of developing acute leukemia, most often about six to eight years after exposure, the society says on its website.

A study published earlier this month by Toshihide Tsuda, a professor at Okayama University, found that cases of thyroid cancer have increased among children and adolescents in Fukushima Prefecture since the accident.”

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About Kirk

Since becoming a lawyer in 1983, Kirk’s 35+ years of practice have focused on advising a wide range of corporations, associations, and individuals (as both plaintiffs and defendants) on both tort and commercial law issues centered around “mass torts.”

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