Hisashi Ouchi – The Most Radioactive Man in History

Hisashi Ouchi was a Japanese martial artist. The Tokaimura company that managed him learned their lesson from this tragic accident. This will not happen again and will be handled much better in the future. We can only pray that the case is never repeated. However, we should never forget the young man and the tragedy he went through.

Most radioactive man in history

Hisashi Ouchi, the most radioactive man in history, was born in Japan in 1965. Although his surname has been reported as Hiroshi, Hisashi, or Aochi, his birth name is Ouchi. He was born in Ibaraki Prefecture and had a wife and young son. His early life was relatively normal, despite being exposed to radiation. He smoked a pack of cigarettes a day and played rugby in high school. He eventually got a job at JCO Tokaimura Plant where he was responsible for the fuel in the Joyo fast reactor.

Hisashi Ouchi was a handsome, young high school rugby player who had a wife and a child at the time. He suffered a high radiation level and was taken to a hospital in Chiba, east of Tokyo. His body was badly damaged by the radiation, with low lymphatic blood count and a zero platelet count. His story was documented in a book about the effects of radiation on the body by a team of journalists from NHK-TV and translated by Maho Harada. Thankfully, Ouchi survived the radiation exposure and was eventually treated at the University of Tokyo.

Multiple heart attacks

Hisashi Ouchi had several heart attacks during his time in the hospital. His radiation exposure killed his white blood cells and chromosomes, reducing his body’s overall cell count to near zero. His body also suffered severe burns and damage to its internal organs. Ouchi’s heart stopped three times in 49 minutes and he eventually died.

Ouchi died 83 days after the Tokaimura Criticality Accident. He suffered three heart attacks while undergoing treatment. His family insisted that he be kept alive, but the treatments he received caused damage to his brain and other organs. His heart and breathing stopped for nearly 50 minutes, and his brain was severely damaged. Ouchi also experienced kidney failure, which left his body without enough blood to function properly. His body couldn’t cope with the large amounts of blood he required to survive.

Chromosomes destroyed

During radiation treatment, Hiashi Ouchi was exposed to 17 sieverts of radiation. This high level of radiation destroys DNA and the immune system. The doctor took a picture of Ouchi after his treatment, and it showed that most of his white blood cells had been destroyed. Despite this, he was able to survive and is alive today.

Ouchi was the only patient to survive the accident, as his body was close to the tank during the transfer. His radiation exposure resulted in multiple organ failure, including the heart. He also suffered from epidermolysis bullosa, which caused his skin to become fragile and blistered. Fortunately, Ouchi was able to receive life-saving treatments from the JCO, which kept him alive.

Death

Hisashi Ouchi died on December 21, 1999, 83 days after the Tokaimura Criticality Accident. The accident caused his kidneys and liver to shut down, and doctors had initially hoped he would recover and be discharged from the hospital. But it was clear that the radiation had done damage to his organs. Upon further examination, his bone marrow revealed that the chromosomes and white blood cells in his body had been completely destroyed. While the doctors initially thought he would live for a short time, he died after a heart attack.

After the radiation exposure, Ouchi was suffering from nausea and vomiting, and was unable to breathe. He lost consciousness and was airlifted to the National Institute of Radiological Sciences. There, he was placed in a private room and monitored by doctors. He had red eyes and a painful hand. Despite his state, he was talking to the nurses. The doctors examined his body and discovered that he had been exposed to large amounts of gamma and neutron beams.

Accidental mixing of uranium with nitric acid

A Japanese company was making fuel for a fast breeder reactor at its Joyo facility when two workers accidentally mixed uranium with nitric-acid precipitation. The high concentration of uranium nitrate in the liquid precipitation caused the process to reach criticality. Over the course of a 12-hour period, two workers poured seven buckets of uranium nitrate into the precipitation vessel. The workers were able to complete the first stage of the process ahead of schedule and mixed four buckets containing 9.2 kg into the precipitation tank.

The workers were instructed to pour the unstirred dissolutions into the precipitation tank, but they violated the procedure by using the other one. This led to the accidental mixing of 9.2 kilograms of uranium. They then resumed their mixing and poured in additional batches.