Workers entered Thursday in the reactor building number 1 on the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (northeast) for the first time since the explosion occurred in the aftermath of the tsunami of March 11, announced the Japanese operator of the plant .
Two workers, equipped with protective suits and oxygen tanks, entered the building, as part of an operation to set up a ventilation system to reduce the level of radioactivity.
"This is the first time that our employees enter the reactor building since the explosion," said Satoshi Watanabe, a spokesman for Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO).
Japanese power company said it intended to send at least 12 workers in the day to start up the ventilation system which should facilitate subsequent repairs to the cooling.
"We send the workers in small groups for a maximum of ten minutes to limit the duration of radiation exposure," added the spokesman.
The legal limit of radiation allowed for men working in the nuclear crisis time was increased to 250 mSv per year since the accident in Fukushima, as against 100 before.
TEPCO has been trying for nearly two months to restore the cooling circuits of the four engines damaged by the tsunami.
The operator estimates that it will take three months to begin to reduce the radioactivity and nine months for cooling the reactors.
Located along the Pacific Ocean, Fukushima Daiichi is one of the oldest plants in Japan, its first reactor was built in the early 1970s.
The earthquake and tsunami of March 11 devastated the Pacific coast north-east of Tokyo, killing nearly 26,000 people dead or missing, according to the latest official toll.
