Japan's Nuclear Plant Workers Exposed to Radiation Levels 10,000 Times Higher Than Normal

Japan Downplays Fears of Setback in Nuclear Crisis

March 24, 2011

Reuters - Workers burned trying to cool a crippled Japanese nuclear plant were exposed to radiation levels 10,000 times higher than normal, officials said on Friday, but they played down suggestions that a reactor was leaking.

A rupture in a reactor would mean a serious reversal following days of slow progress in containing radiation leaks after a killer earthquake and tsunami tore through the Fukushima nuclear power complex two weeks ago.

Over 10,000 people were killed and 17,500 remain missing in the disaster, according to latest police figures. But even those numbers have been eclipsed by the possibility of a catastrophic meltdown at Fukushima, just 250 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.

More than 700 engineers have been working in shifts around the clock to stabilize the six-reactor Fukushima complex but they pulled out of some parts when three workers replacing a cable at the No. 3 reactor were exposed to high contamination Thursday, officials said.

Two were taken to hospital with possible radiation burns after radioactive water seeped over their boots.

"The contaminated water had 10,000 times the amount of radiation as would be found in water circulating from a normally operating reactor," said Japanese nuclear agency official Hidehiko Nishiyama.

"It is possible that there is damage to the reactor."

But Nishiyama later told reporters: "It could be from venting operations and there could be some water leakage from pipes or from valves, but there is no data suggesting a crack."

However, adding confusion to the picture, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said it was possible the contaminated water had come from the reactor's core.

Also Friday, Japan prodded tens of thousands of more people living near Fukushima to leave, while China said two Japanese travellers arriving in the country were found to have exceedingly high radiation levels.

Hideo Morimoto, director at the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy, also said the incident at the No. 3 reactor was not serious.

"I feel if the pressure vessel has been seriously damaged, then far more radiation would have leaked," he said.

However, the reactor is also the only one to use plutonium in its fuel mix, which is more toxic than the uranium used in the other reactors.

U.N. nuclear watchdog IAEA said a total of 17 workers had received elevated levels of radiation at Fukushima since the operations began, but said the other 14 did not suffer burns.