Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Thursday that three workers were exposed to radiation between 170 and 180 millisieverts while trying to restore power to the No. 3 reactor of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.

According to the agency, two of them were taken to hospital as their legs were injured and contaminated by radioactive substances.

The two victims are employees of a partner of Tokyo Electric Power Co.(TEPCO), owner and operator of the nuclear plant.

They were laying power cables with their feet submerged in the water of the turbine room at the reactor shortly after midday when the radiation exposure occurred.

Radioactive leaks were detected after a series of explosion and fire at four of the plant's six reactors following the failure of their cooling functions due to the damaged power supplies in the wake of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami that hit northeastern Japan on March 11.

(Xinhua News Agency March 24, 2011)