According to the plant operator, two of the four workers who were splashed with radioactive water at the crippled Fukushima nuclear facility were sent to the hospital as a precaution.
The incident on Wednesday brings to light the risks Japan still faces in trying to decommission the facility that was destroyed in 2011 by a massive tsunami, which was the biggest nuclear accident to strike the globe since Chernobyl in 1986.
A spokeswoman for operator TEPCO told AFP that two of the five workers were accidently splashed when a hose broke off while they were cleaning pipes at the ALPS system, which filters wastewater before releasing it into the sea.
According to the spokesperson, two more people became affected as they were clearing up the incident.
The two hospitalized men’s bodies had radiation levels that were at or above the acceptable threshold of 4 becquerels per square centimeter.
A doctor told TEPCO that there is little chance the two men’s burns were caused by radiation exposure.
“We’ve been told the condition of the two workers being hospitalised is stable,” the spokesman said.
“Both workers will stay in hospital for about two weeks for follow-up examinations,” he said.
TEPCO is analysing how the incident happened and reviewing measures to prevent a repeat, he said.
The incident happened a few days after TEPCO finished releasing the plant’s second batch of wastewater and during a safety inspection by UN inspectors.
The International Atomic Energy Agency supports Tokyo’s position that the water being discharged is safe and has been significantly diluted with saltwater. However, China and Russia have denounced the leak and prohibited the import of Japanese seafood.
To make room for the very riskier task of removing radioactive fuel and debris from three damaged reactors, 540 Olympic-sized swimming pools’ worth of water are being released.
