Japan to help with voluntary evacuations near stricken nuclear plant

Workers in protective suits prepare Thursday to decontaminate two nuclear plant workers in Fukushima, Japan.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Radiation in seawater is 104 times above normal, a drop from the previous day
• NEW: Water treatment facilities in Tokyo, Chiba prefecture clear after latest tests
• An official says Japan will provide shuttles for those within 20-to-30 km of the plant
• Low levels of related radiation have been detected as far away as Sweden

Tokyo (CNN) -- Japan's government will offer transportation and other assistance to those in a buffer zone around the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a top official said, noting these people have been put in a "difficult" situation.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said authorities will provide transportation in response to growing demand among those living between 20-to-30 kilometers hoping to get farther away from the plant.
Those who live closer have been ordered to evacuate due to dangerously high levels of radiation.
A primary challenge for that region, he said, has had to do with commerce -- namely, the difficulty in getting needed materials in and out of the area.
This is not a mandatory evacuation, Edano said.
Still, he said, he could not rule out future mandatory evacuations if radiation rises to unsafe levels.
Other nations, including the United States and England, have urged their citizens to stay 80 kilometers (50 miles) or more away from the embattled power plant over radiation concerns.

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Japan has urged those within a 20-kilometer radius to evacuate and those within 30 kilometers to try and stay indoors.
Still, even those well outside the plant are being affected by the radioactive emissions.
Traces of radioactive iodine tied to the plant have been detected as far away as Sweden and the United States. Authorities have said those levels are far below what's considered harmful to humans.
Two Japanese citizens -- one from Nagano and the other from Saitama, both 200 kilometers or further from Fukushima -- traveling to China were taken to a hospital after showing exceedingly high levels of radiation, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
"Abnormal radiation" was detected, too, on a Japanese ship on Tuesday, Xinhua said.
But in Japan, radioactive materials detected in water, food and elsewhere have had a major impact. The number of banned food items is growing regularly, and has affected not only consumers, but farmers who rely on the products to make a living.
One area of concern is Japan's fishing industry. The Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the Fukushima Daiichi plant, said its latest readings from Thursday morning show levels of radioactive iodine 104 times in the waters 330 meters off the facility's Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4 reactors.
"I don't know when this will end," said Seiji Nakzato, 75, a fisherman from Tokyo. "Business is down. People don't want to buy fish because they're afraid of radiation."

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Still, this is marked progress compared to the previous day's reading, when levels were 147 times higher than normal.
The latest results also showed levels of the radioactive iodine were 28 times normal some 10 kilometers south of the plant and 13 times higher about 16 kilometers away.
Agriculture in Japan has also been seriously threatened in this crisis, with tests showing radioactive materials at levels exceeding legal limits in 12 types of vegetables grown near the nuclear plant, according to the nation's health ministry.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan has also asked Ibaraki prefecture to suspend shipments of raw milk and parsley, according to Edano.
The government of Fukushima prefecture has asked residents not to eat leafy vegetables.
Radiation levels in the food would not cause health problems right away, Edano said, but if they rise, they may reach levels risky to human health.
The decision to prohibit produce sales is another potentially devastating blow to a part of northeast Japan hit by the earthquake and tsunami.

Fukushima ranks among Japan's top producers of fruits, vegetables and rice. Ibaraki, south of Fukushima, supplies Tokyo with a significant amount of fruits and vegetables, and is the third-largest pork producer in the nation.
"This is our livelihood," a Fukushima farmer told Japanese television network TV Asahi. "It's a huge problem that we are unable to ship all our produce. We raised (this produce) with our own hands. It's unbearable that we would have to throw it all away."
On Thursday, Edano indicated that the government was prepared to compensate farmers and others whose income was threatened by spike in radiation spikes. He said it wasn't yet clear how that might happen.
Another chief concern is the presence of radioactive substances in tap water.
Tokyo's waterworks bureau reported Friday, based on tests conducted that morning, that there were 51 becquerels of radioactive iodine per kilogram of tap water. Anything higher than that 100 becquerels is considered unsafe for infants under 1 year old.
The previous day, Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara lifted the previously announced recommendation that babies not drink tap water after tests from Tuesday night showed levels of radiation more than twice the limit for babies. The government went through, though, with its plan to give out 240,000 bottles of water Thursday and a similar number on Friday.
There was also positive news in the Chiba prefecture, where all five water treatment facilities had levels of radioactive iodine less than 100 becquerels per kilogram of tap water.
The previous day, the Chiba Nogiko water treatment plant had a measure of 220 becquerels , while the Kuriyama facility had a reading of 180 becquerels, according to a statement from Chiba's waterworks bureau. These two plants provide water for the city of Matsudo, about 20 miles northeast of Tokyo.
Japan's leading obstetrics and gynecological organization said that pregnant and nursing women should continue to drink tap water. Over 280 days, the length of a typical pregnancy, the intake of radioactive iodine would still not be considered overly harmful, according to the group.
The society contends, in a news release, that the harm from not drinking water and dehydrating is far greater for mothers than consuming tap water at their current levels