* "high radiation dose" is the minimum exposure legally considered to put workers "at risk".
* Of the 53,000 "at risk" workers a total of 17 cases of diseases such as solid cancer and leukemia had been recognized as work-related and "According to the health ministry, at least two of the 17 cases resulted in the deaths of people who had worked at the plant."
This is a death rate of 4 per 100,000 in 15 years.
For contrast to, say, the Australian mining industry:
The mining industry has made significant improvements in health and safety over the last decade, reducing the incidence rates of both fatalities and serious injuries. However, the mining industry still has one of the highest rates of fatalities of any industry.
In the 12 years to 2015, the fatality rate in the mining industry decreased by 65% from 12.4 worker fatalities per 100 000 workers in 2003, to 4.4 in 2015. The mining industry still has the third highest fatality rate of any industry with an average of 9 workers dying each year.
The caveats here are that
* 53,000 workers over the past 15 years.
* "high radiation dose" is the minimum exposure legally considered to put workers "at risk".
* Of the 53,000 "at risk" workers a total of 17 cases of diseases such as solid cancer and leukemia had been recognized as work-related and "According to the health ministry, at least two of the 17 cases resulted in the deaths of people who had worked at the plant."
This is a death rate of 4 per 100,000 in 15 years.
For contrast to, say, the Australian mining industry:
~ https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/safety-topic/industry-a...Risk wise, it seems much safer to work on and around a damaged nuclear reactor than it is to mine ore.
Pretty much. While we should keep an eye on these folks just in case anything comes up, so far it hasn't been a major issue.
TL;DR: totally safe exposure. 53K people received a total collective dose sufficient to reliably kill 3-4 people or get about 10 people visibly sick.