Two men have been hospitalized after they were accidentally splashed with radioactive liquid at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the plant's operator said Thursday.
The two workers, one in his 20s and the other in his 40s are employees of a partner firm of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and have been admitted to the Fukushima Medical University's hospital to be decontaminated and put under observation, though they did not sustain any visible injuries or complain of ill health.
The exposure occurred on Wednesday when the workers were cleaning part of the piping for the plant's Advanced Liquid Processing System, or ALPS, designed to treat water used in cooling nuclear fuel that remains at the plant, according to TEPCO.
The company said that a hose channeling contaminated solutions came loose and about 100 milliliters of the fluid gushed out, spraying the liquid on the workers.
On one of the victims, 6.6 millisieverts of beta ray was detected, above a limit of 5.0 millisieverts set for cleaning work at the utility, TEPCO said, adding that the two men were not wearing a waterproof outer layer as is required for such cleaning work.
The victims underwent decontamination procedures at the utility, but their bodily radiation levels did not fall below a certain level even after nearly nine hours had passed, TEPCO said.
Decontamination of their skin continued at the hospital, where the two men are expected to stay for some time while they are put under observation for at least two weeks, it added.
