Fire at nuclear plant in Japan

TOKYO - Two workers were exposed to a small amount of radiation and suffered minor burns Saturday when a fire broke out at a nuclear power plant in northeastern Japan, a plant official said. <br> <br> The fire, in the basement of a reactor at Onagawa Nuclear Power Station, began when two workers accidentally punctured a spray can that set alight a plastic sheet during an inspection, said Atsushi Ishii, spokesman for Tohoku Electric Power Co., which runs the plant. <br> <br> The flames were put out before they could spread and there was no danger of radioactivity spilling outside the building, Ishii said. All three plant reactors were operating normally, he said. <br> <br> The two workers suffered minor burns on their faces and hands and were exposed to a small amount of radioactive dust that landed on their faces, plant spokesman Kazumi Sasaki said. But they quickly wiped it off with a wet cloth and the exposure was negligible, he said. <br> <br> Six other workers inside the reactor room were unaffected, Sasaki said. <br> <br> The amount of radioactivity in the area was slightly higher at the time because of the inspection, Sasaki said. <br> <br> Sasaki declined to detail the inspection but said the spray tested the surface condition of metal parts. <br> <br> Fueled by uranium, the Onagawa plant began operating in July 1995. It straddles Onagawa and Oshika cities in Miyagi state and is located about 230 miles northeast of Tokyo. <br> <br> Tsugio Suda, an Oshika city official, said monitors in the area indicated no abnormally high radioactivity levels. <br> <br> Resource-poor Japan depends on nuclear power for about 30 percent of its electricity needs. Recent accidents and cover-ups, however, have made many Japanese uneasy about nuclear power. <br> <br> Japan&#39;s worst nuclear accident killed two workers and exposed hundreds of others to radiation at Tokaimura, 70 miles northeast of Tokyo, in September 1999.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/2/203108