Residents Undergo Health Check Following 1999 Nuke Power Plant Accident in Central JapanOver 140 residents underwent health examination Sunday near Tokaimura village in Ibaraki Prefecture in Central Japan, home to the 1999 nuclear power plant accident, Kyodo News Agency reported.The residents received cardiovascular checks and X-ray tests for cancer in addition to consultations with radiologists, it said. Together with two other health examinations later this month, a total of 300 residents are expected to undergo health checks sponsored by the central and prefectural governments, according to local officials. Some 340 residents underwent the first annual checks last Spring. More than 600 people, mainly employees of a uranium processing plant run by Japan Nuclear Fuel Conversion (JCO) Co. in Tokaimura, were exposed to radiation when a fire broke out at the plant in September 30, 1999. The accident occurred after workers poured an excessive amount of uranium solution into a processing tank with buckets, bypassing several required steps. Public prosecutors indicted six employees of JCO on charges of negligence after two of the workers at the plant died in December 1999 and April 2000, respectively, from radiation sickness. |
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