Japanese engineers Tuesday started preparing to send workers inside the Fukushima nuclear power station's reactor one building for the first time since the plant was crippled by an earthquake and tsunami.
Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it started work to install a ventilation system to clean the air inside the building at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.
Once the air inside is cleaned, TEPCO plans to send crews in to conduct complex work as part of attempts to bring the entire plant to a cold shutdown.
It will be the first time workers have gone inside the building since the March 11 disaster, when four of the six reactors at the plant were heavily damaged by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and tsunami.
The utility said it began installing tent-like equipment to keep radioactive materials inside the reactor one building when workers open its doors. The air inside the structure is highly contaminated with radioactive materials.
The Fukushima plant has been releasing radioactive materials to the environment and is the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.
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