1 00:00:04,170 --> 00:00:06,340 Speaker 1: Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and 2 00:00:06,360 --> 00:00:08,840 Speaker 1: there's Chuck, and Jerry's sitting in for Dave, and this 3 00:00:08,880 --> 00:00:11,900 Speaker 1: is Short Stuff, a really sad edition. 4 00:00:13,260 --> 00:00:16,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, because this is about a nuclear accident, 5 00:00:16,739 --> 00:00:21,670 Speaker 2: and one very famous victim of that accident, a man 6 00:00:21,790 --> 00:00:24,470 Speaker 2: in Japan named Hisashi Ouchi. 7 00:00:24,750 --> 00:00:24,910 Speaker 1: Mm-hmm. 8 00:00:25,370 --> 00:00:29,130 Speaker 2: Who at the time was a 35-year-old worker at a 9 00:00:29,210 --> 00:00:33,989 Speaker 2: nuclear facility. And he got a massive blast of radiation 10 00:00:34,610 --> 00:00:41,460 Speaker 2: in 1999. It was called a criticality accident. And what 11 00:00:41,479 --> 00:00:42,160 Speaker 2: was the name of the town? 12 00:00:43,700 --> 00:00:46,620 Speaker 1: In Takaimura. Takaimura. Okay, great. 13 00:00:47,070 --> 00:00:47,250 Speaker 2: Yeah. 14 00:00:47,670 --> 00:00:52,620 Speaker 1: Or no, Tokaimura, sorry. And that's called the Tokaimura nuclear 15 00:00:52,760 --> 00:00:55,060 Speaker 1: accident is what it's called. And like you said, it 16 00:00:55,100 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: was a criticality because there wasn't like a nuclear explosion 17 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:03,740 Speaker 1: or anything like that. It was an uncontrolled nuclear fission 18 00:01:03,780 --> 00:01:07,619 Speaker 1: reaction that these guys accidentally created while they were doing 19 00:01:07,660 --> 00:01:14,569 Speaker 1: their job processing uranium oxide into usable uranium-235 fuel to 20 00:01:14,610 --> 00:01:17,890 Speaker 1: be used in an actual nuclear reactor. This is not 21 00:01:17,930 --> 00:01:21,050 Speaker 1: a nuclear plant. It was the kind of plant that 22 00:01:21,110 --> 00:01:22,990 Speaker 1: produces fuel for nuclear plants. 23 00:01:23,490 --> 00:01:28,140 Speaker 2: That's right. This is the morning of September 30th, 1999. 24 00:01:28,380 --> 00:01:32,100 Speaker 2: And what they specifically were doing in that moment was 25 00:01:32,140 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 2: they were dissolving that uranium oxide, like you were saying. 26 00:01:34,660 --> 00:01:40,240 Speaker 2: And this was the procedure. What I'm describing now is 27 00:01:40,280 --> 00:01:43,780 Speaker 2: the approved procedure, actually. Yeah, right. So they were supposed 28 00:01:43,819 --> 00:01:47,800 Speaker 2: to have dissolved that uranium oxide in a geometrically safe vessel. 29 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:52,640 Speaker 2: And then what you end up with is uranyl nitrite solution. 30 00:01:53,500 --> 00:01:56,380 Speaker 2: And you put that into a buffer tank and then transfer, 31 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:00,500 Speaker 2: you know, little bits of that into a precipitation tank. 32 00:02:01,530 --> 00:02:05,110 Speaker 2: This company, is it JCO is the name of the company? 33 00:02:05,330 --> 00:02:05,550 Speaker 1: Yeah. 34 00:02:06,450 --> 00:02:08,739 Speaker 2: They said, all right, we're going to speed this up. 35 00:02:09,130 --> 00:02:12,830 Speaker 2: And this procedure is not approved. But what we want 36 00:02:12,870 --> 00:02:15,690 Speaker 2: you guys to do is mix the solution in stainless 37 00:02:15,710 --> 00:02:19,670 Speaker 2: steel buckets and then pour it directly into the precipitation tank. 38 00:02:20,090 --> 00:02:22,890 Speaker 1: And not only pour it directly in the precipitation tank, 39 00:02:23,530 --> 00:02:27,579 Speaker 1: pour so much in there that we have like five 40 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 1: to six times the approved amount in that precipitation tank 41 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:32,060 Speaker 1: at once, right? 42 00:02:32,460 --> 00:02:34,560 Speaker 2: I think there's like seven times. Okay. 43 00:02:34,980 --> 00:02:37,380 Speaker 1: A lot, a lot more than was supposed to be 44 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:39,380 Speaker 1: in there. And I just want to point out, like 45 00:02:39,400 --> 00:02:42,820 Speaker 1: you were saying, there was an approved procedure and JCO said, 46 00:02:42,940 --> 00:02:45,619 Speaker 1: nuts to that. We're going to do this faster one. Right. 47 00:02:45,660 --> 00:02:47,640 Speaker 1: That's just what they were doing with their workers. It's 48 00:02:47,980 --> 00:02:52,580 Speaker 1: crazy because this is nuclear uranium 235 fuel that they're making. 49 00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: And so when they put in these three workers, including 50 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:59,900 Speaker 1: Hisashi Ouchi, when they put in the seventh bucket of 51 00:02:59,960 --> 00:03:03,310 Speaker 1: this stuff into the directly in the precipitation tank, There 52 00:03:03,340 --> 00:03:09,389 Speaker 1: were 16.6 kilos or 36.6 pounds of uranium in there, 53 00:03:09,910 --> 00:03:12,790 Speaker 1: which is way more than was allowed to be in there. 54 00:03:12,810 --> 00:03:16,740 Speaker 1: I think it was 2.4 keys or kilograms that was 55 00:03:16,780 --> 00:03:19,300 Speaker 1: allowed to be in there. And they had 16.6, Chuck. 56 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:23,700 Speaker 2: Yeah. So that reached critical mass pretty quickly and started 57 00:03:23,720 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 2: a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. And like you said, it 58 00:03:28,040 --> 00:03:31,310 Speaker 2: wasn't like an explosion or anything like that, but it 59 00:03:31,350 --> 00:03:35,270 Speaker 2: was a huge burst. of neutron and gamma radiation, like 60 00:03:35,670 --> 00:03:39,370 Speaker 2: incredible Hulk levels. And it went on and off for 61 00:03:39,390 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 2: about 20 hours until the emergency workers finally drained water 62 00:03:43,740 --> 00:03:47,460 Speaker 2: from the tank's cooling jacket and then added boric acid 63 00:03:47,480 --> 00:03:52,760 Speaker 2: to absorb the neutrons. But, you know, very sadly, OUCHI 64 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:58,130 Speaker 2: received a dose equivalent of 17 sieverts. It's kind of 65 00:03:58,170 --> 00:04:00,780 Speaker 2: hard to like get an exact calculation, but It was 66 00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 2: an incredibly large amount of radiation, like so much that 67 00:04:04,540 --> 00:04:08,750 Speaker 2: they have. He's been called the most radioactive man in history, 68 00:04:09,750 --> 00:04:11,369 Speaker 2: which is a bit of a misnomer because he had 69 00:04:11,430 --> 00:04:13,030 Speaker 2: this burst of radiation. But it's not like he was 70 00:04:13,070 --> 00:04:17,650 Speaker 2: walking around like radioactive to other people or anything like that. 71 00:04:17,670 --> 00:04:20,850 Speaker 1: It's a little surprising to me, but OK, well, I'll 72 00:04:20,870 --> 00:04:24,900 Speaker 1: take that. I did a little bit of Josh math here, Chuck. 73 00:04:25,529 --> 00:04:26,110 Speaker 2: Oh, boy. 74 00:04:26,270 --> 00:04:28,450 Speaker 1: Well, it's not even Josh math. It's more Josh checking. 75 00:04:29,610 --> 00:04:34,950 Speaker 1: So you said that Oichi received 17 sieverts of radiation, right? Yeah. 76 00:04:35,110 --> 00:04:37,510 Speaker 1: I'm not laughing at that. 77 00:04:37,589 --> 00:04:39,070 Speaker 2: I'm laughing at your math, by the way. 78 00:04:39,089 --> 00:04:39,609 Speaker 1: No, I understand. 79 00:04:39,870 --> 00:04:40,010 Speaker 2: Yeah. 80 00:04:40,430 --> 00:04:44,370 Speaker 1: One millirem is equal to 0.00001 sieverts. Okay? Okay. You 81 00:04:44,430 --> 00:04:53,039 Speaker 1: get 20 millirems from a chest X-ray. He got 17 82 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:58,370 Speaker 1: sieverts all at once. Wow. I mean, that's just such 83 00:04:58,390 --> 00:05:02,289 Speaker 1: a mind-boggling amount of radiation that I can't believe he 84 00:05:02,330 --> 00:05:05,330 Speaker 1: didn't die immediately. I say we take a break and 85 00:05:05,370 --> 00:05:08,910 Speaker 1: come back and talk about Ochi's agonizing 83 days of 86 00:05:09,010 --> 00:05:12,220 Speaker 1: life that followed that radiation exposure. All right. 87 00:05:12,240 --> 00:05:12,780 Speaker 2: We'll be right back. 88 00:05:36,250 --> 00:05:38,250 Speaker 1: So, Chuck, before we broke, I was saying I was 89 00:05:38,270 --> 00:05:40,229 Speaker 1: surprised that he didn't die immediately. 90 00:05:40,450 --> 00:05:40,690 Speaker 2: Yeah. 91 00:05:40,850 --> 00:05:43,250 Speaker 1: The reason he didn't die immediately is because it takes 92 00:05:43,290 --> 00:05:47,330 Speaker 1: a little while for the incredible damage that the radiation 93 00:05:47,370 --> 00:05:53,040 Speaker 1: did to his body to actually take effect. But what 94 00:05:53,100 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: it did, essentially, was it blasted through every cell in 95 00:05:57,140 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: Hisashi Oichi's body and damaged the DNA inside so much 96 00:06:02,180 --> 00:06:05,570 Speaker 1: so that the doctors caring for him said that he 97 00:06:06,210 --> 00:06:10,690 Speaker 1: had completely, or the radiation had completely shattered his chromosomes. 98 00:06:11,450 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: The actual packets that hold the DNA in your cells 99 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:21,300 Speaker 1: were just shattered. They couldn't find chromosomal structures throughout his 100 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:24,000 Speaker 1: body that weren't just totally messed up. 101 00:06:24,620 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 2: Yeah, we should mention there were three guys in the 102 00:06:27,839 --> 00:06:30,120 Speaker 2: immediate area. He was the one closest to the tank. 103 00:06:30,990 --> 00:06:33,390 Speaker 2: There was another guy a little less close to the tank. 104 00:06:33,529 --> 00:06:35,529 Speaker 2: And then I guess the third guy even less close 105 00:06:35,570 --> 00:06:39,109 Speaker 2: to the tank. Ouchi was taken to a local hospital 106 00:06:39,150 --> 00:06:42,300 Speaker 2: at first, obviously, like very quickly, and then transferred to 107 00:06:42,339 --> 00:06:46,640 Speaker 2: the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba, but then 108 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 2: eventually would end up at the University of Tokyo Hospital 109 00:06:49,980 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 2: for some really extensive specialized treatment. Specialized meaning like they 110 00:06:56,580 --> 00:06:58,700 Speaker 2: had no roadmap for this. So they were kind of 111 00:06:58,779 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 2: trying anything. 112 00:06:59,880 --> 00:07:04,650 Speaker 1: Exactly. they got in touch with his sister who was like, hey, 113 00:07:05,710 --> 00:07:10,150 Speaker 1: he is not really able to produce new white blood cells. Basically, 114 00:07:10,230 --> 00:07:15,210 Speaker 1: any fast-growing, fast-regenerating cell, it took the damage the most. 115 00:07:15,750 --> 00:07:17,840 Speaker 1: And that's where it showed up first because those are 116 00:07:17,860 --> 00:07:20,260 Speaker 1: the cells that are dividing. And now that their DNA 117 00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: is messed up, they're dividing in all sorts of terrible ways. 118 00:07:24,100 --> 00:07:26,120 Speaker 1: So the things that made up like the lining to 119 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:30,020 Speaker 1: his gut, those fast-dividing cells, they started to show problems first. 120 00:07:30,260 --> 00:07:35,130 Speaker 1: His skin... And then his bone marrow that produces white 121 00:07:35,170 --> 00:07:38,230 Speaker 1: blood cells, red blood cells, all sorts of really important stuff. 122 00:07:38,730 --> 00:07:42,989 Speaker 1: That was probably the biggest problem because he was very 123 00:07:43,070 --> 00:07:46,610 Speaker 1: vulnerable to infection without a bunch of white blood cells 124 00:07:46,690 --> 00:07:49,090 Speaker 1: or not producing correct ones anymore. So they went to 125 00:07:49,110 --> 00:07:52,810 Speaker 1: his sister and said, hey, can you donate some bone marrow? 126 00:07:52,890 --> 00:07:54,610 Speaker 1: And she did. Yeah. 127 00:07:54,670 --> 00:07:57,370 Speaker 2: So, you know, like I said, they were trying blood 128 00:07:57,410 --> 00:08:02,670 Speaker 2: transfusions at first, stem cell transplants. And that's where his 129 00:08:02,890 --> 00:08:06,770 Speaker 2: sister came into play. And initially, it showed like that 130 00:08:06,860 --> 00:08:10,640 Speaker 2: transplant produced some new white blood cells. But very quickly, 131 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,980 Speaker 2: they started getting damaged and, you know, basically in the 132 00:08:15,020 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 2: same way. He was just so riddled with it. And 133 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:23,160 Speaker 2: his skin and his intestinal lining couldn't regenerate normally. He 134 00:08:23,220 --> 00:08:27,160 Speaker 2: had to constantly get fluids like replaced all throughout his body. 135 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:32,860 Speaker 2: He was on respiratory support. and like organ failure started 136 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:33,939 Speaker 2: to set in. Yeah. 137 00:08:34,820 --> 00:08:38,319 Speaker 1: So the guy who was second closest when that radiation 138 00:08:38,360 --> 00:08:42,100 Speaker 1: blast went off, his name was Masato Shinohara. And he 139 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:47,620 Speaker 1: died from his injuries in 2000, April 2000. But about 140 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:53,250 Speaker 1: four months before, on December 21st, 1999, Hisachi Ouchi died 141 00:08:53,850 --> 00:08:56,300 Speaker 1: at the University of Tokyo Hospital. And it had been 142 00:08:56,300 --> 00:09:01,170 Speaker 1: 83 days since he had undergone that blast of radiation. 143 00:09:01,630 --> 00:09:04,410 Speaker 1: And so, of course, this made really big news around 144 00:09:04,450 --> 00:09:07,450 Speaker 1: Japan and around the world. This is nuts that anybody 145 00:09:07,510 --> 00:09:10,970 Speaker 1: even lasted that long, let alone just the grisliness of 146 00:09:11,030 --> 00:09:13,790 Speaker 1: the whole thing. So everybody was like, how did this 147 00:09:13,830 --> 00:09:17,000 Speaker 1: happen at all? And they started looking at JCO. It 148 00:09:17,030 --> 00:09:20,100 Speaker 1: turns out JCO was a terrible, terrible company that had 149 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:27,439 Speaker 1: no business doing something as important and dangerous as nuclear 150 00:09:27,500 --> 00:09:28,460 Speaker 1: fuel production. 151 00:09:29,210 --> 00:09:32,010 Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. That third worker survived, by the way, 152 00:09:32,220 --> 00:09:35,380 Speaker 2: out of the three. But yeah, JCO had allowed a 153 00:09:35,410 --> 00:09:39,760 Speaker 2: lot of shortcuts to happen. Like you said, the instructions 154 00:09:39,820 --> 00:09:43,780 Speaker 2: just for this were that wasn't the approved procedure. There 155 00:09:43,800 --> 00:09:46,700 Speaker 2: was not a lot of regulatory approval going on. The 156 00:09:46,740 --> 00:09:51,000 Speaker 2: workers didn't have safety training that they needed. The facility 157 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:55,540 Speaker 2: didn't have a critical incident alarm, which is crazy. They 158 00:09:55,580 --> 00:09:58,190 Speaker 2: just I guess they thought that like there wouldn't be 159 00:09:58,230 --> 00:09:59,190 Speaker 2: that kind of accident there. 160 00:09:59,410 --> 00:10:01,410 Speaker 1: That's what happened at Three Mile Island. Hubris. 161 00:10:01,450 --> 00:10:04,689 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. That same thing. They also weren't conducting 162 00:10:04,750 --> 00:10:08,000 Speaker 2: the kind of inspections routinely that they needed to. And 163 00:10:08,040 --> 00:10:09,930 Speaker 2: that might have turned up like, hey, this process that 164 00:10:09,950 --> 00:10:11,750 Speaker 2: we're using is like really unsafe and we should be 165 00:10:11,790 --> 00:10:12,930 Speaker 2: using the approved process. 166 00:10:13,210 --> 00:10:14,990 Speaker 1: So I just want to point out, I think it's 167 00:10:15,050 --> 00:10:17,290 Speaker 1: probably clear, but I just want to make 100 percent clear. 168 00:10:17,630 --> 00:10:21,429 Speaker 1: These three workers were not taking their own shortcut. They 169 00:10:21,450 --> 00:10:24,740 Speaker 1: were doing the procedure that their company was telling them to, 170 00:10:25,050 --> 00:10:28,040 Speaker 1: which was a dangerous shortcut. So the dangerous shortcut was 171 00:10:28,100 --> 00:10:31,720 Speaker 1: official company procedure. Right. Yeah. 172 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:35,870 Speaker 2: So as far as the official like procedure. blame or whatever, 173 00:10:35,910 --> 00:10:40,030 Speaker 2: the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was human error 174 00:10:40,110 --> 00:10:45,840 Speaker 2: combined with serious breaches of safety principles. For JCO's part, they, 175 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:50,020 Speaker 2: in 2003, six of the officials got suspended prison sentences 176 00:10:50,100 --> 00:10:54,840 Speaker 2: for professional negligence. The company was fined and they couldn't, 177 00:10:54,880 --> 00:10:56,400 Speaker 2: they had shut down the plant, didn't they? 178 00:10:57,420 --> 00:10:59,100 Speaker 1: They did. They would think it was the first time 179 00:10:59,179 --> 00:11:03,370 Speaker 1: ever that a company lost its license to, to, enriched 180 00:11:03,429 --> 00:11:07,699 Speaker 1: nuclear fuel in Japan. Yeah. And then also they were like, 181 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:10,840 Speaker 1: you know, these safety inspectors that didn't do the proper 182 00:11:10,880 --> 00:11:13,780 Speaker 1: inspections that were to turn up that issue with the 183 00:11:13,820 --> 00:11:18,160 Speaker 1: different procedure, they fell down too. So Japan really kind 184 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:23,300 Speaker 1: of bulked up its nuclear stuff and now everything's great. Yeah. 185 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:26,360 Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it exposed like what could happen. 186 00:11:27,260 --> 00:11:29,620 Speaker 2: And I think with every time we do something like this, 187 00:11:29,780 --> 00:11:32,590 Speaker 2: like It's like they're very sad stories, but it seems 188 00:11:32,630 --> 00:11:34,170 Speaker 2: like they come out on the other side with like, 189 00:11:34,190 --> 00:11:36,550 Speaker 2: all right, now we're trying to do it right. Don't 190 00:11:36,570 --> 00:11:36,809 Speaker 2: you think? 191 00:11:37,230 --> 00:11:40,590 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think because in this case, JCO maybe wasn't 192 00:11:40,630 --> 00:11:43,929 Speaker 1: powerful enough to try to fight having to change. So 193 00:11:44,090 --> 00:11:45,630 Speaker 1: it did end up for the best. 194 00:11:46,110 --> 00:11:46,290 Speaker 2: Yeah. 195 00:11:47,190 --> 00:11:47,910 Speaker 1: Yeah. Anything else? 196 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:49,660 Speaker 2: I got nothing else. 197 00:11:49,940 --> 00:11:51,830 Speaker 1: Well, I say you give it to him. 198 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:57,880 Speaker 2: Short Stuff is out. Stuff You Should Know is a 199 00:11:57,900 --> 00:12:01,959 Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 200 00:12:01,980 --> 00:12:05,150 Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 201 00:12:05,190 --> 00:12:05,890 Speaker 2: favorite shows.