Worker Dies At Japan Nuclear Plant

In Asia, News Headlines

A worker died at Japan’s disaster-stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant as emergency crews continued their operations to prevent a major meltdown, the plant’s operator said.

The male worker in his 60s was confirmed dead after he was rushed to hospital after falling unconscious at the plant, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) spokesman Taichi Okazaki said.

He said 0.17 millisievert of radiation was detected at the work place, far below the company’s safety threshold of 5 millisieverts.

“No radioactive substances were detected on the worker,” Mr Okazaki said. There were no signs of injury on the dead man.

The worker, who was not immediately identified, was carrying chainsaws with another worker inside a facility to treat contaminated water being released from the plant’s crippled reactors.

The giant ocean wave triggered by the massive magnitude-9.0 seabed quake on March 11 knocked out the plant’s water cooling systems, leading fuel rods inside several reactors to partially melt and sparking explosions.

Workers have since doused reactors and fuel rod pools with water to stop them from overheating and releasing far greater amounts of radiation.

TEPCO hopes to bring the plant into stable “cold shutdown” some time between October and January.

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