WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Hisashi Ouchi

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<v Speaker 1>Hey, and welcome to the Short Stuff. I'm Josh, and

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<v Speaker 1>there's Chuck, and Jerry's sitting in for Dave, and this

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<v Speaker 1>is Short Stuff, a really sad edition.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, for sure, because this is about a nuclear accident,

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<v Speaker 2>and one very famous victim of that accident, a man

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<v Speaker 2>in Japan named Hisashi Ouchi.

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<v Speaker 1>Mm-hmm.

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<v Speaker 2>Who at the time was a 35-year-old worker at a

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<v Speaker 2>nuclear facility. And he got a massive blast of radiation

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<v Speaker 2>in 1999. It was called a criticality accident. And what

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<v Speaker 2>was the name of the town?

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<v Speaker 1>In Takaimura. Takaimura. Okay, great.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>Or no, Tokaimura, sorry. And that's called the Tokaimura nuclear

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<v Speaker 1>accident is what it's called. And like you said, it

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<v Speaker 1>was a criticality because there wasn't like a nuclear explosion

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<v Speaker 1>or anything like that. It was an uncontrolled nuclear fission

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<v Speaker 1>reaction that these guys accidentally created while they were doing

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<v Speaker 1>their job processing uranium oxide into usable uranium-235 fuel to

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<v Speaker 1>be used in an actual nuclear reactor. This is not

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<v Speaker 1>a nuclear plant. It was the kind of plant that

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<v Speaker 1>produces fuel for nuclear plants.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right. This is the morning of September 30th, 1999.

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<v Speaker 2>And what they specifically were doing in that moment was

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<v Speaker 2>they were dissolving that uranium oxide, like you were saying.

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<v Speaker 2>And this was the procedure. What I'm describing now is

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<v Speaker 2>the approved procedure, actually. Yeah, right. So they were supposed

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<v Speaker 2>to have dissolved that uranium oxide in a geometrically safe vessel.

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<v Speaker 2>And then what you end up with is uranyl nitrite solution.

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<v Speaker 2>And you put that into a buffer tank and then transfer,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, little bits of that into a precipitation tank.

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<v Speaker 2>This company, is it JCO is the name of the company?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>They said, all right, we're going to speed this up.

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<v Speaker 2>And this procedure is not approved. But what we want

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<v Speaker 2>you guys to do is mix the solution in stainless

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<v Speaker 2>steel buckets and then pour it directly into the precipitation tank.

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<v Speaker 1>And not only pour it directly in the precipitation tank,

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<v Speaker 1>pour so much in there that we have like five

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<v Speaker 1>to six times the approved amount in that precipitation tank

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<v Speaker 1>at once, right?

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<v Speaker 2>I think there's like seven times. Okay.

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<v Speaker 1>A lot, a lot more than was supposed to be

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<v Speaker 1>in there. And I just want to point out, like

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<v Speaker 1>you were saying, there was an approved procedure and JCO said,

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<v Speaker 1>nuts to that. We're going to do this faster one. Right.

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<v Speaker 1>That's just what they were doing with their workers. It's

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<v Speaker 1>crazy because this is nuclear uranium 235 fuel that they're making.

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<v Speaker 1>And so when they put in these three workers, including

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<v Speaker 1>Hisashi Ouchi, when they put in the seventh bucket of

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<v Speaker 1>this stuff into the directly in the precipitation tank, There

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<v Speaker 1>were 16.6 kilos or 36.6 pounds of uranium in there,

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<v Speaker 1>which is way more than was allowed to be in there.

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<v Speaker 1>I think it was 2.4 keys or kilograms that was

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<v Speaker 1>allowed to be in there. And they had 16.6, Chuck.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah. So that reached critical mass pretty quickly and started

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<v Speaker 2>a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction. And like you said, it

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<v Speaker 2>wasn't like an explosion or anything like that, but it

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<v Speaker 2>was a huge burst. of neutron and gamma radiation, like

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<v Speaker 2>incredible Hulk levels. And it went on and off for

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<v Speaker 2>about 20 hours until the emergency workers finally drained water

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<v Speaker 2>from the tank's cooling jacket and then added boric acid

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<v Speaker 2>to absorb the neutrons. But, you know, very sadly, OUCHI

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<v Speaker 2>received a dose equivalent of 17 sieverts. It's kind of

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<v Speaker 2>hard to like get an exact calculation, but It was

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<v Speaker 2>an incredibly large amount of radiation, like so much that

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<v Speaker 2>they have. He's been called the most radioactive man in history,

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<v Speaker 2>which is a bit of a misnomer because he had

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<v Speaker 2>this burst of radiation. But it's not like he was

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<v Speaker 2>walking around like radioactive to other people or anything like that.

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<v Speaker 1>It's a little surprising to me, but OK, well, I'll

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<v Speaker 1>take that. I did a little bit of Josh math here, Chuck.

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<v Speaker 2>Oh, boy.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, it's not even Josh math. It's more Josh checking.

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<v Speaker 1>So you said that Oichi received 17 sieverts of radiation, right? Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not laughing at that.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm laughing at your math, by the way.

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<v Speaker 1>No, I understand.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>One millirem is equal to 0.00001 sieverts. Okay? Okay. You

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<v Speaker 1>get 20 millirems from a chest X-ray. He got 17

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<v Speaker 1>sieverts all at once. Wow. I mean, that's just such

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<v Speaker 1>a mind-boggling amount of radiation that I can't believe he

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<v Speaker 1>didn't die immediately. I say we take a break and

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<v Speaker 1>come back and talk about Ochi's agonizing 83 days of

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<v Speaker 1>life that followed that radiation exposure. All right.

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<v Speaker 2>We'll be right back.

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<v Speaker 1>So, Chuck, before we broke, I was saying I was

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<v Speaker 1>surprised that he didn't die immediately.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>The reason he didn't die immediately is because it takes

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<v Speaker 1>a little while for the incredible damage that the radiation

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<v Speaker 1>did to his body to actually take effect. But what

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<v Speaker 1>it did, essentially, was it blasted through every cell in

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<v Speaker 1>Hisashi Oichi's body and damaged the DNA inside so much

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<v Speaker 1>so that the doctors caring for him said that he

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<v Speaker 1>had completely, or the radiation had completely shattered his chromosomes.

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<v Speaker 1>The actual packets that hold the DNA in your cells

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<v Speaker 1>were just shattered. They couldn't find chromosomal structures throughout his

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<v Speaker 1>body that weren't just totally messed up.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we should mention there were three guys in the

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<v Speaker 2>immediate area. He was the one closest to the tank.

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<v Speaker 2>There was another guy a little less close to the tank.

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<v Speaker 2>And then I guess the third guy even less close

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<v Speaker 2>to the tank. Ouchi was taken to a local hospital

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<v Speaker 2>at first, obviously, like very quickly, and then transferred to

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<v Speaker 2>the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba, but then

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<v Speaker 2>eventually would end up at the University of Tokyo Hospital

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<v Speaker 2>for some really extensive specialized treatment. Specialized meaning like they

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<v Speaker 2>had no roadmap for this. So they were kind of

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<v Speaker 2>trying anything.

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<v Speaker 1>Exactly. they got in touch with his sister who was like, hey,

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<v Speaker 1>he is not really able to produce new white blood cells. Basically,

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<v Speaker 1>any fast-growing, fast-regenerating cell, it took the damage the most.

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<v Speaker 1>And that's where it showed up first because those are

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<v Speaker 1>the cells that are dividing. And now that their DNA

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<v Speaker 1>is messed up, they're dividing in all sorts of terrible ways.

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<v Speaker 1>So the things that made up like the lining to

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<v Speaker 1>his gut, those fast-dividing cells, they started to show problems first.

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<v Speaker 1>His skin... And then his bone marrow that produces white

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<v Speaker 1>blood cells, red blood cells, all sorts of really important stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>That was probably the biggest problem because he was very

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<v Speaker 1>vulnerable to infection without a bunch of white blood cells

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<v Speaker 1>or not producing correct ones anymore. So they went to

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<v Speaker 1>his sister and said, hey, can you donate some bone marrow?

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<v Speaker 1>And she did. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>So, you know, like I said, they were trying blood

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<v Speaker 2>transfusions at first, stem cell transplants. And that's where his

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<v Speaker 2>sister came into play. And initially, it showed like that

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<v Speaker 2>transplant produced some new white blood cells. But very quickly,

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<v Speaker 2>they started getting damaged and, you know, basically in the

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<v Speaker 2>same way. He was just so riddled with it. And

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<v Speaker 2>his skin and his intestinal lining couldn't regenerate normally. He

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<v Speaker 2>had to constantly get fluids like replaced all throughout his body.

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<v Speaker 2>He was on respiratory support. and like organ failure started

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<v Speaker 2>to set in. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>So the guy who was second closest when that radiation

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<v Speaker 1>blast went off, his name was Masato Shinohara. And he

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<v Speaker 1>died from his injuries in 2000, April 2000. But about

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<v Speaker 1>four months before, on December 21st, 1999, Hisachi Ouchi died

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<v Speaker 1>at the University of Tokyo Hospital. And it had been

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<v Speaker 1>83 days since he had undergone that blast of radiation.

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<v Speaker 1>And so, of course, this made really big news around

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<v Speaker 1>Japan and around the world. This is nuts that anybody

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<v Speaker 1>even lasted that long, let alone just the grisliness of

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<v Speaker 1>the whole thing. So everybody was like, how did this

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<v Speaker 1>happen at all? And they started looking at JCO. It

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<v Speaker 1>turns out JCO was a terrible, terrible company that had

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<v Speaker 1>no business doing something as important and dangerous as nuclear

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<v Speaker 1>fuel production.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, for sure. That third worker survived, by the way,

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<v Speaker 2>out of the three. But yeah, JCO had allowed a

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<v Speaker 2>lot of shortcuts to happen. Like you said, the instructions

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<v Speaker 2>just for this were that wasn't the approved procedure. There

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<v Speaker 2>was not a lot of regulatory approval going on. The

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<v Speaker 2>workers didn't have safety training that they needed. The facility

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<v Speaker 2>didn't have a critical incident alarm, which is crazy. They

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<v Speaker 2>just I guess they thought that like there wouldn't be

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<v Speaker 2>that kind of accident there.

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<v Speaker 1>That's what happened at Three Mile Island. Hubris.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, that's right. That same thing. They also weren't conducting

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<v Speaker 2>the kind of inspections routinely that they needed to. And

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<v Speaker 2>that might have turned up like, hey, this process that

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<v Speaker 2>we're using is like really unsafe and we should be

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<v Speaker 2>using the approved process.

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<v Speaker 1>So I just want to point out, I think it's

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<v Speaker 1>probably clear, but I just want to make 100 percent clear.

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<v Speaker 1>These three workers were not taking their own shortcut. They

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<v Speaker 1>were doing the procedure that their company was telling them to,

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<v Speaker 1>which was a dangerous shortcut. So the dangerous shortcut was

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<v Speaker 1>official company procedure. Right. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>So as far as the official like procedure. blame or whatever,

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<v Speaker 2>the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was human error

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<v Speaker 2>combined with serious breaches of safety principles. For JCO's part, they,

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<v Speaker 2>in 2003, six of the officials got suspended prison sentences

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<v Speaker 2>for professional negligence. The company was fined and they couldn't,

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<v Speaker 2>they had shut down the plant, didn't they?

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<v Speaker 1>They did. They would think it was the first time

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<v Speaker 1>ever that a company lost its license to, to, enriched

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<v Speaker 1>nuclear fuel in Japan. Yeah. And then also they were like,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, these safety inspectors that didn't do the proper

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<v Speaker 1>inspections that were to turn up that issue with the

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<v Speaker 1>different procedure, they fell down too. So Japan really kind

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<v Speaker 1>of bulked up its nuclear stuff and now everything's great. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, you know, it exposed like what could happen.

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<v Speaker 2>And I think with every time we do something like this,

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<v Speaker 2>like It's like they're very sad stories, but it seems

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<v Speaker 2>like they come out on the other side with like,

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<v Speaker 2>all right, now we're trying to do it right. Don't

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<v Speaker 2>you think?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think because in this case, JCO maybe wasn't

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<v Speaker 1>powerful enough to try to fight having to change. So

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<v Speaker 1>it did end up for the best.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. Anything else?

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<v Speaker 2>I got nothing else.

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<v Speaker 1>Well, I say you give it to him.

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<v Speaker 2>Short Stuff is out. Stuff You Should Know is a

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