Authorities announced on Thursday (Dec. 14) that a high level of radiation was found in the nose of a worker at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, raising safety concerns despite the plant’s decommissioning.
China and North Korea previously expressed concern when Japan began slowly releasing wastewater from the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean.
Beijing had even declared that it would “completely suspend the import of Japanese aquatic products” in order to “prevent the risk of radioactive contamination of food safety.” However, Japan denied all claims, claiming that the water was safe.
Fukushima nuclear plant: It was the second such incident in three months
Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said Thursday that radioactive materials may have come into contact with the worker’s face when he removed his full-face mask after finishing his work on Monday.
TEPCO also stated that the employee was not suffering from any adverse health effects and that a full body scan revealed no internal contamination, but that a full analysis would be available next month.
It was the second such incident in three months, following the October incident in which four workers were splashed with radioactive water, with two of them being hospitalized as a precaution.
There was concern when Japan released treated radioactive water from its defunct nuclear reactor into the sea after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) approved the plan.
The plant was rendered inoperable following a nuclear accident that occurred during the 2011 tsunami, releasing a large amount of radioactive material.
Following the tsunami, some of the nuclear facility’s reactors melted down due to overworked cooling systems, resulting in the worst nuclear disaster since Chornobyl.
After coming into contact with the reactor’s fuel rods, the water was distilled. The tanks on the site contained approximately 1.3 million metric tons of radioactive water, which is enormous. It is a mix of groundwater, rain that seeps into the area, and cooling water.
A massive magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck Japan, centered in the Pacific Ocean about 80 kilometers east of Sendai.
The quake triggered a powerful tsunami. The US Geological Survey reported that it was the largest earthquake ever recorded in Japan and the fourth largest recorded globally since 1900.
According to official data, the number of people confirmed dead or missing in the 2011 disaster was around 18,500. Another person estimated that it was at least 20,000. According to reports, the majority of those killed were drowning victims of the tsunami waves.