High radiation level detected in worker’s nose at Fukushima nuclear plant

Employee not facing adverse heath issue, operator of Fukushima power plants says

A high level of radiation level has been detected in the nose of a worker at the Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan, authorities said, underscoring the dangers Japan still faces in decommissioning the plant.

The worker is believed to have removed his full-face mask that was possibly exposed to radioactive materials upon completion of his work, said Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) on Thursday, the plant operator.

The Tokyo-based electrical company said that the employee was not experiencing any adverse health-related effects and a full body scan did not show any internal contamination.

But a report of full body analysis is due in January 2024, Tepco said.

Full details of the accident are yet to be released by the operator. The Independent has reached out to Tepco for a comment.

It is the second reported incident of contamination in the last three months. In October, four workers at the plant were splashed with water containing radioactive materials.

Two of them were rushed to hospital after they were contaminated and released later with “no health problems” or “no significant abnormalities” on the skin, Tepco said.

In the world’s worst-ever nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in the town of Okuma was struck by an earthquake measuring ninw on the Richter scale on 11 March 2011. The quake triggered a tsunami that killed 1,800 people and wiped out towns.

The earthquake and tsunami led to a series of events that caused a meltdown in three of the plant’s reactors, releasing a significant amount of radioactive material.

Tepco in August began releasing more than one million tonnes – 540 Olympic swimming pools’ worth – of treated water into the sea, sparking a wave of concerns and criticism by neighbouring countries including China. The water will be released in four batches, scheduled between August to March 2024.

It is part of the full-scale decommissioning plan of the plant, spanning more than 30 years. The riskiest phase of extracting radioactive fuel and debris from the three reactors is yet to begin.