NUCLEAR

Radioactive Water Slows Japan Work

Three workers hospitalized after exposure.

Japanese officials scrambled Friday to find a solution for the leaking radioactive water at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex after three workers were hospitalized due to exposure to the water. To cool the reactors, workers are still covering the spent fuel rods to cool them down—but high levels of radioactivity found in the water has made the cooling battle tricky. The data coming out of the plant are contradictory, meaning the radioactive water the workers were exposed to could be coming from the spent fuel rods or possibly from the reactor vessel itself. But no matter the source, the radioactive water could make the recovery process at the plant impossible. Some reports suggested the workers had been exposed to deadly levels of full-body gamma radiation.