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Japan Nuke Victim Leaves Hospital
Monday December 20 9:13 AM ET
Japan Nuke Victim Leaves Hospital
TOKYO (AP) - One of three workers exposed to massive radiation in
Japan's worst nuclear accident was released Monday from a hospital,
officials said.
Yutaka Yokokawa, 55, was discharged from the National Institute of
Radiological Sciences in Chiba prefecture (state), east of Tokyo. In
October, he underwent a blood transfusion there after his white blood
cell count dropped following the accident, hospital spokesman Saburo
Tojo said.
Yokokawa was hospitalized for 82 days and will continue to receive
outpatient treatment, the hospital said.
At least 69 people were exposed to radiation after an uncontrolled
atomic reaction Sept. 30 at a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant
operated by JCO Co. The accident forced hundreds of thousands of
people living near the plant to remain indoors for more than a day.
Hisashi Ouchi, 35, and Masato Shinohara, 40, the two other heavily-
irradiated workers, are still being treated at the University of
Tokyo Hospital, Kyodo News agency reported. Ouchi is in serious
condition, it said
Yokokawa, who supervised the two others, was partly protected from
exposure because he was working in an adjacent room, the report said.
The three workers were approved on Oct. 26 for government
compensation under the national workers' accident insurance program,
the first time Japan agreed to pay compensation for acute
radiation poisoning.
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