A worker at Japan’s destroyed Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant died yesterday after falling inside a water storage tank, the latest in a spate of industrial accidents at the site of the March 2011 nuclear disaster, the world’s worst since Chernobyl.
The death is the second at Fukushima Dai-ichi in less than a year. Last week, labor inspectors warned the operator of the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), about the rise in accidents and ordered it to take measures to deal with the problem.
An unnamed laborer in his 50s working for construction company Hazama Ando Corp on Monday fell into a 10m water storage tank he had been inspecting. The tank was empty at the time and the worker died yesterday after being taken to a local hospital, TEPCO said.
“We are deeply sorry for the death of the worker and express our deepest condolences to the family. We promise to implement measures to ensure that such tragedy does not occur again,” Fukushima Dai-ichi head manager Akira Ono said in a statement.
Hazama Ando had no immediate comment.
The number of accidents at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, including heatstrokes, has almost doubled this fiscal year to 55. The increase came as TEPCO ramped up cleanup efforts and doubled the number of workers at the site to nearly 7,000.
In March last year, a worker at the plant died after being buried under gravel while digging a ditch.
In a separate accident yesterday morning, a worker at the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant, a sister plant of wrecked Fukushima Dai-ichi, was injured and lost consciousness while inspecting equipment at a facility sorting radioactive waste, TEPCO said.
The worker was taken to a nearby hospital by helicopter yesterday morning, the plant operator said, adding he was not exposed to radiation.
Fukushima Daini is about 15km to the south of the destroyed Fukushima Dai-ichi plant. The complex has served as a hub for companies and workers involved in the cleanup of the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant.
TEPCO has been widely criticized for its handling of the cleanup of the ruined Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. Until last year it struggled to contain leaks of radioactive water from hastily built tanks at the site and it has repeatedly promised to improve working conditions.
Most workers inside the plant are contract laborers hired by multiple layers of construction companies. A Reuters investigation in 2013 found widespread labor abuses, including workers who said their pay was skimmed and that there was little scrutiny of working conditions at the plant.
“It’s not just the number of accidents that has been on the rise. It’s the serious cases, including deaths and serious injuries that have risen, so we asked Tokyo Electric to improve the situation,” said Katsuyoshi Ito, a local labor inspector overlooking the Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant.
Ito said inspectors were investigating Monday’s accident.
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