Japanese Workers Enter Dangerous Nuclear Reactor Building

The recovery process from the massive 9.0-magnitude earthquake in Japan continues. Workers continue to try to manage the dangerous amounts of radioactive matter that are in the air. On Thursday, Japanese workers entered a reactor building at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to install air ducts for a ventilation system that will filter the air to reduce radioactive substances. Once the radioactive contamination in the air is reduced, workers will be able stay in the building longer to install a cooling system that Tokyo Electric wants to use to do a cold shutdown of the reactor. Even with the protection of suits, masks, and air tanks, the air inside the plants is still unsafe for workers to be in the building for more than a few hours. Tokyo Electric said it will take about two to three days to bring the contamination levels down to a level that is safer for workers to be in for longer periods of time. This natural disaster triggered the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl. Recently, Tokyo Electric laid out a six to nine month timetable for winding down the crisis and bringing the reactors to a complete shutdown.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/05/japan.nuclear.reactors/index.html

-Kristine Zizis