Tokyo: Radiation levels have dropped inside the No 1 reactor building at the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan, Kyodo News reported.
The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), said the drop was due to a ventilator installed in the building on Thursday to filter out radioactive substances.
Workers would soon be able to re-enter the site to stabilise the reactor, the company said, adding that it expects radioactivity levels at the plant to stabilise within six to nine months.
As soon as radiation drops to permissible levels, specialists will attempt to restart the reactor's cooling system, knocked out by a magnitude-9 earthquake and ensuing tsunami March 11.
The toll due to the disaster has reached 14,877, while 9,960 people were still unaccounted for till Saturday, according to the National Police Agency.
IANS
First Published: Sunday, May 08, 2011, 10:42