Japan

Two Fukushima Workers Hospitalized

Stood in pool of radioactive water.

Two workers who had tried to restore power to the cooling system at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear reactor have been sent to the hospital after their feet came into contact with radioactive water. They were exposed to radiation levels between 170 and 180 millisieverts, which is lower than the maximum level permitted for workers on the site but above the lowest level at which any increase in cancer is evident. Levels of radioactive iodine in tap water seem to have declined, and in Tokyo are now below the level considered safe for babies to drink. Residents of Fukushima prefecture have been told not to eat 11 types of vegetables because of possible contamination.