Radiation levels rising in ocean outside power plant

RADIATION levels are continuing to rise in the ocean outside a leaking nuclear plant in Japan’s northeast as officials debated whether to broaden the evacuation zone around the tsunami-damaged facility.

Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) said it was looking into a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency about high levels of radiation in the village of Iitate, 40km from the Fukushima power plant.

The agency said the level in one spot in Iitate was twice its suggested threshold for evacuation.

NISA spokesman Hidehiko Nishiyama said officials were checking radiation levels in the village. He said most residents had left, but about 100 chose to stay.

“We take it seriously,” he said. “We may consider asking these people to evacuate. But we need more time to study the situation.”

People in a 19km radius around the plant have already been ordered to leave their homes. The village of Iitate lies 30km away from the plant.

Experts say the spike does not pose an immediate danger to human health, but evacuation recommendations tend to be conservative to prevent long-term exposure to any elevation in radiation levels.

Operations to cool down the Fukushima nuclear plant are still continuing, following the disaster on March 11.

The mission to stabilise the plant, 225km northeast of Tokyo, has become more complicated since the discovery a week ago that radioactive water is pooling inside, restricting the areas in which crews can work.

It also puts emergency crews in the uncomfortable position of having to pump in more water to continue cooling the reactor while simultaneously pumping out contaminated water.