Tokyo/Fukushima, Mar 24: Three workers were today exposed to high radiation at Japan's troubled Fukushima nuclear plant, as authorities mulled plans to import bottled water amid a panicked rush to buy it after the tap water here was briefly declared unfit for infants due to contamination.
More countries, including Russia, Australia and Canada, shunned food imports from Japan, where the devastating March 11 earthquake of magnitude 9 and tsunami left over 26,000 people dead or unaccounted for.
The three affected workers at the crippled Fukushima plant, 220 kms from Tokyo, were laying cable at the No.3 reactor's turbine building when they were exposed to high radiation. Two of them were hospitalised due to injuries to their legs.
They were exposed to 170-180 millisievert of radiation, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said, adding that two of the workers had their feet under water while laying the cable, Kyodo reported.
The radiation exposure level was lower than the maximum limit of 250 millisievert set by the Health Ministry for workers tackling the crisis at the Fukushima plant.
Authorities detected radiation levels considered to be unsafe for infants to drink at several purification plants outside Tokyo, local officials said, a day after the tap water in Japanese capital was declared unsafe for babies due to radioactive iodine.
However, Tokyo officials' latest survey showed that the radiation levels dropped to 79 becquerels from 210 becequerels at a purification plant in Kanamachi district, prompting them to say that they would no longer warn against consumption of tap water in the metropolitan area.
Japanese authorities also stepped up their efforts to increase the supply of bottled water in light of the drawn-out crisis at the quake-hit nuclear power plant, as stores in Tokyo were running out of the commodity.
Chiba Prefectural officials said they detected traces of radioactive iodine at about twice the stipulated safe limit for infants in water taken from two purification plants in Matsudo yesterday.
Local officials there recommended residents not give tap water to infants as levels of iodine-131 rose to 220 becquerels per one litre of water at one of its purification plants and 180 becquerels at another facility.
The city of Kawaguchi in Saitama Prefecture said the iodine level rose to 120 becquerels per litre of water at its treatment facility on Tuesday, adding that the levels today have stayed below the limit of 100 becquerels for infants.
However, Kawaguchi officials said tap water in the city is safe enough and they would not issue a warning on its consumption.
Notwithstanding the lifting of tap water warning by Tokyo authorities, people in the capital city rushed to buy the limited supplies of bottled water from shops and vending machines.
This forced the metropolitan government to start distributing a total of 240,000 bottles of water, each containing 550 milliliters, to families with infants. The officials said three bottles will be given per infant.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said that the government would ask manufactures to increase their output of bottled water.
Edano also said the government does not rule out the possibility of importing more bottled water from abroad.
The top government spokesman, however, stressed that levels of radiation detected so far pose no risk to the health of children and adults, asking people without infants to refrain from buying bottled water.
Meanwhile, Russia, Canada, Australia and Singapore halted food imports from Japan, close on the heels of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announcement that that it would ban imports of dairy products and vegetables from areas near the crisis-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant due to "radionuclide contamination."
Japan continued to be rocked by aftershocks as a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.1 jolted tsunami-ravaged Miyagi prefecture and its vicinity today, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan discussed the latest situation in Japan with his British counterpart David Cameron on phone, the Foreign Ministry here said.
Cameron told Khan he would urge other European leaders to support Japan when he attends the two-day EU summit in Brussels, it said.
Kan thanked Cameron for Britain's assistance and briefed him about the ongoing efforts to contain the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, the ministry was quoted as saying by Kyodo. PTI
