HTH -- Haiti Earthquake

March 24, 2011. Two workers hospitalized after exposure to radiation at Fukushima plant; radiation levels fall in Tokyo tap water

SOURCE: Altegrity Risk International

Two workers at Japan's troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were taken to hospitals after they were exposed to high levels of radiation, Japanese officials said on March 24th. The two men were laying cables in reactor No. 3 in an effort to restore the cooling systems when they stepped into a high radiation puddle. A third man was also injured in the incident. Although all three men worse protective clothing, the contaminated water seeped in and exposed their legs to radiation. As of March 24th, power has been restored to the site, with officials now attempting to restart the coolers in reactor No. 3. Work paused on March 23rd after a plume of black smoke emerged from it; officials allowed work to continue after radiation levels in the area remained stable. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said there had been "positive developments" at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, but that the situation remained "of serious concern."

The power plant suffered significant damages in the March 11th earthquake and tsunami; the death toll from the disaster rose to 9,523 as of March 24th with 16,094 others still listed as missing. As of March 24th, radiation levels in Tokyo's water supply had fallen, although they remained high in other parts of northeastern Honshu Island. The city of Kawaguchi in Saitama prefecture also reported high levels of radiation in water supplies on March 24th. Tokyo reported shortages of bottled water in the morning of March 24th after Tokyo residents headed a government warning on March 23rd that infants less than a year old as levels of radioactive iodine, which can cause thyroid cancer, were twice the recommended level in some parts of the capital. Officials did stress that infants would have to drink a lot of tap water to harm themselves.