A slow death : 83 days of radiation sickness
Japan's worst nuclear radiation accident took place at a uranium reprocessing facility in Tokaimura, northeast of Tokyo, on 30 September 1999. The direct cause of the accident was cited as the depositing of a uranyl nitrate solution--containing about 16.6 kg of uranium, which exceeded the critical mass--into a precipitation tank. Three workers were exposed to extreme doses of radiation. Hiroshi Ouchi, one of these workers, was transferred to the University of Tokyo Hospital Emergency Room, three days after the accident. Dr. Maekawa and his staff initially thought that Ouchi looked relatively well for a person exposed to such radiation levels. He could talk, and only his right hand was a little swollen with redness. However, his condition gradually weakened as the radioactivity broke down the chromosomes in his cells. The doctors were at a loss as to what to do. There were very few precedents and proven medical treatments for the victims of radiation poisoning. Less than 20 nuclear accidents had occurred in the world to that point, and most of those happened 30 years ago. This book documents the following 83 days of treatment until his passing, with detailed descriptions and explanations of the radiation poisoning
Print Book, English, ©2008
1st ed
Vertical, New York, ©2008
xv, 141 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm
9781934287408, 1934287407
231583723
Originally published in Japanese as: Toukaimura rinkai jiko. 2002
Originally published in Japanese as: 東海村臨界事故 : 被曝治療83日間の記錄 by 岩波書店, 2002