Japanese Worker in Nuclear Accident Dies

A worker who was severely injured in Japan’s worst nuclear accident died late Tuesday, nearly three months after being hit with a massive dose of radiation.

He was the nation’s first fatality from radiation exposure caused by an accident at a nuclear facility.

Hisashi Ouchi, 35, had been in critical condition since the Sept. 30 accident at a nuclear fuel processing plant. He died after suffering various symptoms of radiation sickness, Tokyo University Hospital spokesman Hisao Yanagisawa said.

The accident in Tokaimura, about 80 miles northeast of Tokyo, severely undermined the public’s faith in Japan’s aggressive nuclear power program.

Two other workers received serious but lesser doses of radiation in the accident, which occurred when Ouchi and one of the other workers mixed uranium with nitric acid to make fuel and accidentally put too much uranium into the tank, triggering an atomic reaction.