2 workers exposed to high radiation at Fukushima plant hospitalized

Two of three workers who were laying cable at the troubled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Thursday were exposed to high-level radiation and were hospitalized due to injuries to their feet, the nuclear safety agency and the plant operator said.

The three male workers were exposed to radiation amounting to 173 to 180 millisievert at around 12:10 p.m. while laying cable underground at the No. 3 reactor’s turbine building. The two workers of plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s affiliated firm had their feet under water while carrying out the work, according to the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

The two, who were diagnosed as having sustained beta ray burn injuries at a Fukushima hospital, will later be sent to the National Institute of Radiological Sciences in Chiba Prefecture, the agency said.

TEPCO said radioactive water may have seeped through their radiation protective gear. The injuries are caused by direct exposure to beta rays, the utility added.

The level is lower than the maximum limit of 250 millisievert per year set by the health ministry for workers tackling the ongoing emergency at the Fukushima plant.

So far, one worker who was injured following a hydrogen explosion at the No. 3 reactor on March 14 was found to have been exposed to radiation amounting to over 150 millisievert.

Those workers really are risking their lives.

Sigh… I hate it when writers throw in the “rays” word - it’s so meaningless and confusing.

“Beta” particles are helium nuclei, and are the usual emitted products from spontaneous fission of many unstable isotopes, including all the Uranium isotopes.

If the workers’ feet sustained burns that means large does of beta particles… which implies a significant amount of dissolved radioactive isotopes in the water… which means that indeed some of source material supposedly contained within the zirconium alloy clad rods has leaked out, which means the zirconium alloy cladding, at least somewhere, has broken or flaked off.

Which we already knew because something has to be the source of all that unstable iodine and cesium floating around Japan.

This also goes to show how awkward the “sieverts” scale is - it’s too general. I realize why it was invented, but electrons, protons, nuclei, neutrons, and light really are different from each other.

Earlier reports on Kyodo speak of “neutron rays” - gag. They have indeed detected some extra neutrons at certain test sites, but the levels are very low. Neutrons are emitted usually under chain reaction conditions, not the usual spontaneous fission of U.