Japan Update: As of 9:00, 27/March, TOKYO
He said further verification is needed to find out how the radioactive water reached the underground site where the workers were exposed. Huge volumes of water have been poured into the reactor as well as its apparently boiling spent fuel pool since they lost their cooling functions.
The three workers were transferred to the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba Prefecture on Friday afternoon, and two of them, who were hospitalized the day before for possible burns, were found likely to have suffered internal radiation exposure, the institute said, adding, however, that they have not shown early symptoms and do not require treatment.
“There were problems regarding radiation management. We will strengthen management further,” Tokyo Electric Executive Vice President Sakae Muto said separately.
Despite the partial halt of restoration work due to the technicians’ radiation exposure, TEPCO continued to make efforts to cool the overheating reactors and spent fuel pools.
In addition to the infusion of freshwater to the No. 1 and No. 3 reactors, it injected seawater to the spent fuel pools of the No. 2 and No. 4 reactors through pipes, and firefighters sprayed a massive amount of seawater onto the No. 3 fuel pool, the utility said.
The government, meanwhile, encouraged residents within 20 to 30 kilometers of the plant to leave voluntarily, citing concerns over access to daily necessities, while maintaining its directives for them to remain indoors and for residents within 20 km of the plant to evacuate.
The Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan, a government panel, also recommended voluntary evacuation as the release of radioactive materials from the plant is expected to continue for some time.
Following the March 11 quake and tsunami, the cooling functions failed at the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 reactors and their reactor cores partially melted at the plant on the Pacific coast around 220 km northeast of Tokyo, prompting seawater to be pumped in to prevent the fuel from being exposed.
The cooling functions of the pools storing spent nuclear fuel at the three units, as well as at the No. 4 unit, were also lost. The No. 4 reactor, halted for a regular inspection before the quake, had all of its fuel rods stored in the pool for the maintenance work.
In this photo released by Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, Tokyo Electric Power Co. workers collect data in the control room for Unit 1 and Unit 2 at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Okumamachi, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, Wednesday, March 23, 2011.
News and Photo source: Daily Mainichi
