RADIATION FALLS AT JAPANESE PLANT

Radiation falls at Japanese plant

Click to play

         Radiation levels have fallen at Japan's earthquake-stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the government says. The announcement was made after a fire was extinguished at the plant. The government had earlier warned that radiation leaks from the plant had reached harmful levels. Weather reports indicate winds are dispersing radiation from the plant to the east, over the Pacific Ocean, but the government has ordered people living within 20km (12 miles) to leave. Officials have warned people within 20-30km of the plant to either leave the area or stay indoors. Japan has also announced a 30-km no-fly zone around the plant to prevent planes spreading the radiation further afield.

        Friday afternoon's 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the strongest in Japan since records began to be kept, hit the north-east of the main island of Honshu and triggered a powerful tsunami that devastated dozens of coastal communities. The latest official death toll from the quake and tsunami stands at nearly 3,400 - but thousands of people are missing and it is feared at least 10,000 may have been killed. More than 500,000 people have been made homeless. The government has deployed 100,000 troops to lead the aid effort. The crisis at the Fukushima plant - which contains six nuclear reactors - has mounted since the earthquake knocked out the cooling systems. That reactor had been shut down before the quake for maintenance, but its spent nuclear fuel rods were still stored on the site. Officials said the explosions were caused by a buildup of hydrogen. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said they were closely watching the remaining two reactors at the plant, five and six, as they had begun overheating slightly. He said cooling seawater was being pumped into reactors one and three - which were returning to normal - and into reactor two, which remained unstable. Japan's nuclear safety agency said earlier it suspected the blast may have damaged reactor two's suppression chamber, which would have allowed radioactive steam to escape.

Prof. John Kurakar

Click to playExperts say even small radiation doses, as low as 100 millisieverts, can slightly raise cancer risk Exposure to 1,000 millisieverts is estimated to increase risk of fatal cancer by about 5%