Japan is set to declare that the tsunami-devastated Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant has finally achieved a “cold shutdown”, meaning it has stabilised and is no longer leaking substantial amounts of radiation.

The director of Japan's troubled Fukushima nuclear power plant is stepping down because of illness.

Japanese farmers took to the streets in Tokyo today demanding compensation for radiation contamination to their crops and livestock from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

The Japanese government has set its first radiation safety standards for fish after a tsunami-ravaged nuclear plant reported radioactive contamination in nearby sea water measuring several million times the legal limit.

Smoke billowed from two of the damaged Japanese nuclear reactors today, temporarily halting vital work to reconnect power lines and restore cooling systems to the complex.

THE fact that I was in Japan the week before last Friday’s tsunami has given the tragedy an extra poignancy for me. How many of those people I was milling around with in Tokyo have lost relatives or their livelihoods, I can’t help but wonder?

Japan’s nuclear crisis has intensified as authorities raced to combat the threat of multiple reactor meltdowns and evacuated more than 170,000 people after the devastating earthquake and tsunami.