MOSCOW, November 7 (RIA Novosti) – Three construction workers have sustained work-related injuries at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, AFP reports, citing the Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO).
The workers were hurt after steel construction material collapsed on them. One of the injured men temporarily lost consciousness, according to a TEPCO spokesman. He was taken to hospital by helicopter and remains in critical condition. Another worker broke his leg in the incident. The third person sustained minimal injuries and can walk unassisted.
The workers were involved in constructing a 13-meter-high tank to store water contaminated in Fukushima’s cooling system. TEPCO currently stores approximately 400,000 tons of water but its volume is constantly rising. TEPCO needs hundreds of additional tanks to store water before it can be purified and released into the sea.
TEPCO is currently testing a new improved water purification system.
In March 2011, Fukushima nuclear power plant was hit by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami, causing a partial meltdown of three of the plant’s nuclear reactors. The incident is considered the worst nuclear disaster since the 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe.
