For the first time since reactor building No. 1 suffered a hydrogen explosion on March 12, 2011, TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Company) workers entered the building located in the Dai-ichi (Big One) nuclear facility in Fukushima-ken (Fukushima Prefecture).
On March 11, 2011, the entire complex was first damaged by the 9.0 Magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami causing the complex to lose power to its cooling generators which nearly caused a nuclear meltdown.
On Thursday May 5, 2011, nine TEPCO workers installed and connected eight 30-centimetre diameter pipes to a ventilating system at the adjacent turbinebuilding as part of its continuing efforts to reduce the high levels of radiation within the reactor building by circulating air through afilter on the ventilating device.
The ventilation was added to help stop radiation exposure against workers breathing in the deadly materials while they install a new cooling system at reactor No. 1. The ventilation will work for three days to disperse the radiation, which could in the near future allow more workers to enter the reactor building to install needed equipment like a heat-exchanger
Also, TEPCO announced it will set up a new cooling system within reactor No.1 on Sunday, May 10, 2011 with plans to begin circulating the cooling water in the reactor'scontainer unit sometime in June.
The nine TEPCO workers wore protective suits, masksand air packs and installed the pipes whilefour other workers monitored radiation levels inside the crippled reactor buildingto ensure their fellow workers remained safe.
According to TEPCO, theradiation level was 10 to 93 millisieverts per hour inside the reactorbuilding, and the workers were exposed to between 0.24 and 2.8millisieverts, which was within the expected range.
Overall, this endeavor will hopefully reduce the amount of radioactivity within Reactor No. 1 to 1/20th (one-twentieth) of its current level as the radioactive air will travel through the newly installed pipes and into the filter, which will capture the radioactive substances before it is recycled back into the building.
Andrew Joseph
Photo above is of reactor No. 1 at the Dai-ichi nuclear facility in Fukushima-ken.
