Top official admits Radiation levels around reactors a threat to health

Japans Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Public Relations Noriyuki SHIKATA asked media and residents to stay away from Unit 2 of Fukushima Daiichi. He further related there is fire at Unit 4 of Daiichi, and radiation levels have risen due to a leakage around the plant. He stated that residents who remain within a of 20 km radius need to evacuate immediately. Those between 20 km and 30 km are requested to stay inside their homes

He stated that radiation levels NEAR unit 2,3 ,and 4 show possible danger of affecting human health. He emphasized that the farther the distance one of from the units at Fukushima Daiichi and Daini power plants, the smaller the figures of radiation levels.

Media that were covering the Nuclear power plant explosions have begun to wear masks and have moved further away from the power plants.

A FIRE has broken out at the number-four reactor at the quake-hit Fukushima No.1 atomic power plant and radiation levels have risen considerably, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said on Tuesday.
People between 20-30km from the reactor should stay indoors, Mr Kan said. The radiation levels around the reactors are now a threat to human health, the Japanese government said.
As well as the atomic emergency, Japan is struggling to cope with the enormity of the damage from the record-breaking quake and the tsunami which raced across vast tracts of its north-east, destroying all before it. The official death toll has risen to 2,414, police said on Tuesday, but officials say at least 10,000 are likely to have perished.
Japan’s nuclear safety agency said the operator of the stricken Fukushima No.1 power plant on the eastern coast believed the seal around the reactor, which is critical for preventing a major radiation leak, had not been holed.
But the top government spokesman said there appeared to be damage to the structure around the number-two reactor, the third to be hit by an explosion since Friday’s disaster which knocked out cooling systems.
via Radiation levels around reactors a threat to health.