"Workers Enter Japan's Crippled Reactor Building"

"TOKYO – Workers entered a damaged reactor building at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant on Thursday for the first time since explosions crippled the plant two months ago.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power, said the workers were attempting to install a ventilator to help lower radiation levels inside the reactor building.

The company said a dozen workers in anti-radiation suits entered the outer rooms of Unit 1 to begin installing the system for filtering out radioactive particles in the air. Last month, robots found dangerously high radiation levels in the building, which was damaged by a hydrogen explosion after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The filter the workers are installing will essentially act like a vacuum cleaner, to absorb radiation in the building's air."

Martin Fackler reports for the New York Times May 5, 2011.