Tokyo, March 15: Japan’s nuclear crisis has taken a turn for the worse with nuclear radiation being detected in Tokyo, which is 250 kilometres southwest of a quake-stricken atomic power plant.
In Tokyo, authorities said the radiation level was higher than normal, but not at harmful levels.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan urged citizens residing within 30 kilometres of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station to stay indoors after an explosion took place in one of its most seriously troubled reactors, insisting that they might otherwise face the risk of suffering from radiation sickness.
Addressing a news conference immediately after the explosion, Kan said that radiation levels had risen considerably in the area around the damaged plant, but urged Japanese people to remain calm, The Age reports.
Kan had earlier branded the current situation in Japan, which had been hit by an earthquake and a tsunami on Friday, as the country’s worst crisis since World War II, The Age reports.
The explosion at the reactor in Fukushima power plant on Tuesday morning had damaged its crucial steel containment structure.
Image: Oil leaks from ships swept by a tsunami in Fudai Village, Iwate
Official statements and industry executives had earlier claimed that emergency workers had been withdrawn from the plant, and much larger emissions of radioactive materials appeared imminent.
Although they had initially suggested that the damage was limited and that emergency operations aimed at cooling the nuclear fuel at three stricken reactors with seawater would continue, industry executives have claimed that the situation appears to be out of control.
–Agencies