TOKYO: Four workers at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant were splashed with water containing radioactive materials, with two of them hospitalized as a precaution, the plant operator said on Friday.
The incident on Wednesday underscores the dangers Japan still faces in decommissioning the plant which was severely damaged by an immense tsunami in 2011 in the world’s worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
Five workers were cleaning pipes at the ALPS system filtering wastewater for release into the sea when two were splashed when a hose accidentally disconnected, a spokesman for operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings (TEPCO) told AFP.
Two other workers were contaminated while responding to the spill, the spokesman further said.
The radiation levels detected in the bodies of the two hospitalized individuals were at or above 4 becquerels per square centimetre, the threshold considered safe.
The likelihood of these two workers sustaining radiation-induced burns is low, according to a doctor, TEPCO said.
“We’ve been told the condition of the two hospitalized workers is stable,” the spokesman said.
“Both workers will stay in the hospital for approximately two weeks for follow-up examinations,” he further said.
TEPCO is conducting an investigation into how the incident happened and reviewing measures to prevent a repeat, he said.
The incident transpired shortly after TEPCO had completed the release of the second batch of wastewater from the plant, and as United Nations inspectors visited the facility for a safety review.
Tokyo insists that the water being released is harmless and is significantly diluted with seawater, a perspective supported by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but China and Russia have criticized the release and banned Japanese seafood imports.
The release of this large volume of water, equivalent to 540 Olympic swimming pools, serves the purpose of creating space for the more complex and hazardous task of removing radioactive fuel and debris from three severely affected reactors.
