Workers entered a reactor building at a damaged nuclear plant in north-eastern Japan Thursday for the first time since it was hit by a magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami on March 11, as dpa reported. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has been leaking radioactive substances since the disaster. Engineers equipped with protective suits, masks and air packs started to work inside the building of reactor 1 to install ventilation systems, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said. Twelve engineers are to work in groups of four, connecting decontamination equipment, Jiji Press said. The equipment was to help to reduce radioactivity levels that have prevented workers from restoring key cooling functions. The purifiers should remove 95 per cent of the radioactive substances from the air in the building, Jiji Press reported citing TEPCO.
