Copyright kyodonews
AOMORI, Japan - Radioactive material has been detected on a man who was working at a nuclear spent-fuel reprocessing plant in Japan's northeast, a nuclear fuel company said Monday. The company, Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd., is checking to see if the worker in his 40s, who was inside a building at the plant in Rokkasho, an Aomori Prefecture village, was internally contaminated. He has shown no signs of ill health so far. The worker was replacing parts on Friday morning for equipment used to ventilate a tank in which radioactive materials are produced. Shortly after 11 a.m., radiation levels rose at the spot where he was working, with the filter on his protective mask indicating radioactive contamination, the company said. An examination later found radioactive material in his nostrils. The worker is believed to have breathed contaminated air for up to three minutes while he was replacing mask filters to prevent further exposure, it added. No radioactive material was detected on either of the other two workers who were there at the time. The company is also looking into why the radiation levels went up.
