Atty: Worker in Pa. bldg collapse misused machine

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — An attorney representing the contractor hired to demolish a Philadelphia building that collapsed onto a thrift store, killing six people, says his client did not instruct an excavator operator to use the machine for demolition that day.

Attorney Kenneth Edelin said in a statement that contractor Griffin Campbell hired excavator operator Sean Benschop because of his experience but Benschop was to use the machine to remove debris on June 3, the day the building collapsed.

Benschop faces numerous charges, including manslaughter. At least six survivors have filed lawsuits against Campbell and the building's owner, and a grand jury was being convened to investigate the collapse.

A handful of investigators emerged from Campbell's home Monday evening, carrying a box.

Via Yahoo News!

Worker at Japan's tsunami-hit nuclear plant dies

TOKYO (AP) — A man died on his second day of work at Japan's tsunami-wrecked nuclear power plant Saturday, and the plant operator said harmful levels of radiation were not detected in his body.

A barge pulls a storage container toward Fukushima, Japan, on Sunday. It will be used to store a large volume of radioactive-contaminated water from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant.

The contract worker in his 60s was the first person to die at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan since March 11, when an earthquake and tsunami damaged the facility and caused fires, explosions and radiation leaks in the world's second-worst nuclear accident.

The worker was carrying equipment when he collapsed and died later in a hospital, said Naoyuki Matsumoto, spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power Co. The company does not know the cause of his death, Matsumoto said.

The man had been wearing a radiation protection suit, mask and gloves while working at the plant's waste disposal building, which stores radioactive-contaminated water that has leaked from the tsunami-crippled reactors.

Kyodo News agency reported the man had no apparent injuries and a second worker nearby had no ill health effects.

Two Fukushima workers had died from the tsunami itself, when waves swept into the plant and heavily damaged buildings and equipment. TEPCO said those workers, both in their early 20s, were found in the basement of a turbine building.

The quake and tsunami are believed to have killed more than 24,500 people. Police said Friday that 15,019 were dead and 9,506 were still listed as missing.

Radiation leaks at the Fukushima plant have forced 80,000 people living within a 12-mile radius of the nuclear facility to leave their homes for an indefinite time.

The nuclear crisis prompted the government to evaluate all of Japan's 54 reactors for quake and tsunami vulnerability, and Prime Minister Naoto Kan asked that one plant in central Japan halt operations while its defenses were improved.

Chubu Electric said its Hamaoka nuclear plant in Shizuoka was completely shut down Saturday on the premier's request. The company will build a large seawall and other safety structures — work expected to take a few years.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Worker dies after collapse in Fukushima

An aerial view of the quake-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in the Fukushima prefecture on March 12, 2011.He was not exposed to lethal amounts of radiation, Tokyo Electric Power Co. saysThe man in his 60s had worked at the plant for two days Company: He was wearing protective gear at the time

(CNN) -- A worker died after collapsing at a facility in the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, its owner said Saturday.

The man in his 60s was rushed to hospital unconscious after working for 50 minutes, according to Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant's owner.

He was declared dead at the hospital on Saturday morning. The cause of death is unknown.

The contract worker was on his second day at the plant, and was wearing protective gear at the time, the company said.

He was exposed to 0.17 millisieverts of radiation, the company said.

Japanese health officials have set a cumulative limit of 250 millisieverts per year before workers must leave the plant.

The plant has faced a series of setbacks since a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami struck on March 11. The disasters triggered a glitch in the plant's cooling system, and caused radiation to leak.

As crews work to bring the problems under control, the government said this week it would compensate more than 78,000 displaced by the nuclear disaster.

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