Workers have entered the Unit 1 reactor building of Japan's damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for the first time since a hydrogen explosion hit the facility a day after the devastating March earthquake and tsunami.
Twelve staff members stepped in to install duct pipes to six ventilation machines that will filter out the radioactive material in the air, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), the plant operator, said Thursday.
"Groups of four will go in one by one to install the ducts. They'll be working in a narrow space," Junichi Matsumoto, TEPCO's spokesman, said.
High radiation levels inside the plant have kept workers from entering the facility to repair the plant's cooling systems. No one has entered the reactor building since the March 12 explosion. TEPCO has said it may take a year to bring the nuclear plant back up to speed.